by Ron Tuff 8/27/2011

Building on the success and experience of the Steel Industry Trades Replacement Program (SITRP). Council Members felt it was important to emphasize skilled trade apprenticeships rather than the steel industry and open membership to other community manufacturers. The Hamilton Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Consortium (HSTAC) was born. HSTAC's governance document guides the operation of the consortium with a shared understanding of the relative roles and responsibilities of each of the stakeholders and the by-laws that govern the consortium.

As a volunteer stakeholder council, the members all have permanent jobs within the community. HSTAC has no government financial support, although CSTEC, which helped establish the Consortium, has partnered with the Council when promoting the skilled trades as an occupation at career fairs, schools and college events. The opportunity to reach out to senior public school students is also important as they consider their high school curriculum choices. A program which includes Grade 12 English, Math and Physics are all recommended prerequisite courses. The Specialist High Skills Major and the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program in high schools are also experiential pathways into apprenticeship training.

HSTAC was officially registered as an MTCU apprentice sponsor on July 7th 2009 and concentrates on apprenticeships identified in the Apprenticeship and Certification Act 1998 (ACA).

The priority voluntary trades include:

• 429A General Machinist
• 421A Heavy Duty Equipment Technician
• 442A Industrial Electrician
• 433A Industrial Mechanic Millwright
• 447A Instrumentation and Control Technician
• 430A Tool & Die Maker
• 456A Welder

An "Apprentice Sponsor Terms & Conditions Agreement" was drafted and approved, which clarified that HSTAC was a sponsor, not an employer. As such, HSTAC cannot sign off skills in the MTCU Training Standards, however HSTAC agrees to remain the sponsor on record for a full year after graduation. At that time, if the apprentice has not been officially transferred to a new employer, the apprentice is notified of the change and the apprenticeship remains active. Apprentices agree to keep their personal information up to date and HSTAC maintains a spreadsheet of all registered apprentices, tracking their progress. The Consortium may be able to help connect employers with unemployed graduates hoping to complete their hands on experience. Using these metrics, our goal is to increase the number of Certificate of Apprenticeship and Certificate of Qualification completions in the community. In 2010, HSTAC registered 121 apprentices.