With a worker shortage facing both the province’s construction and silviculture sectors the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of B.C. (ICBA)has offered to temporarily hire silviculture workers during breaks in their seasonal work.
ICBA says the pooling of workers would allow for a fuller season of employment over all for treeplanters and brushers who may face interruptions in their field work. The possibility of continuous work would assist silviculture contractors in retaining experienced workers, which is now a growing problem for the sector.
The construction jobs available to untrained silviculture workers would be rough concrete work and not likely to entice silviculture workers away permanently, said the ICBA.