Project Overview

PROJECT DELIVERABLE

To prepare local jobseekers for employment opportunities directly and in-directly related to the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the LEPC has created a jobs guide featuring career profiles, disseminated related job postings, and presented at community information sessions.


project timeline

October 1, 2018 to March 29, 2019

 

Project Status- COMPLETED

We have wrapped up consultations with employers and unions to help inform the writing of the Bridge Jobs Guide. These consultations helped inform the identification of jobs related to the construction, design, operations and maintenance of the bridge. In additon to the direct jobs, we also asked about in-direct jobs in our consultations. The resulting jobs guide details the list of direct and indirect jobs and how people can apply for jobs related to the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Since October we have been tracking the jobs that have been posted online, distributing them through our job finding tools (WEjobs, WEexplore and WEmap jobs) and have been maintaining a list of all active job postings on our bridge jobs webpage.

Project rationale:

The construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge will be among the largest construction projects in Canada, requiring a large workforce to both build and operate it. In addition, the new bridge will create economic spin-off jobs and opportunities for related sectors and the communities that surround it. The Bridging Our Workforce project builds on the success of our “Help Bridge Your City” project from phase 1 of the LEPC by examining the kinds of jobs required to build, operate and support this new international crossing, and by connecting the available workforce to these jobs.

Help Bridge Your City” is a resource that lists the constructions jobs, required skills and related local training pathways. This project was critical to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority’s (WDBA) community engagement strategy on both sides of the border. The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board also credited this project with supporting the creation of their new Construction Academy in 2017.

Under phase 3, the LEPC will expand on this project and provide even greater labour market information to the public now that the final design of the bridge and the proponent has been announced. The LEPC will work with economic impact research that is being released in fall 2018 by the University of Windsor’s Cross-Border Institute, to ensure that career profiles, skills and related local training pathways for direct and in-direct spin-off jobs are available to the community, jobseekers and service providers in a comprehensive Bridging our Workforce jobs guide. As well, the guide will include known information on how to find employment in the construction or operation of the new bridge. Workforce WindsorEssex will share job postings with the community by email and integrate the job postings into the WEmap and WEexplore tools on our website. Finally, the LEPC will work with the WDBA and Bridging North America (proponent) to present at community engagement events, and also facilitate community connections between the proponent, sub-contractors and unions, with employment services and jobseekers locally.

 

Project Contact:

Corey Shenken, Project Coordinator & Researcher

226-674-3220 ext. 858

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Tashlyn Teskey, Project Coordinator & Researcher

226-674-3220 ext. 857