health and addictions counselling, and even medical cannabis coverage); their pension coverage; and their skills and safety training. For those reasons and more, LiUNA Local 1059 has consistently grown and expanded. That’s been especially true over the course of the pandemic. In 2019, the local had their best year ever in terms of ‘contributed hours,’ meaning the number of hours their members worked. Then the pandemic hit, and in 2020 and 2021, their contributed hours went up by 37 per cent. “That shows the growth,” Brandon says. “Also, we’ve just eclipsed 5,000 members. We probably added about 1,000 of those members just in the last 18 months. We’ve increased our apprenticeship intake tenfold – we take close to 160 apprentices in a year now.” That growth is a testament to a combinationof factors, Brandon reiterates. There’s the appeal of being a LiUNA member, of course, but there’s also the fact that the market is currently there to accommodate that growth – “there’s just that much infrastructure work out there,” Brandon says. In addition, Brandon believes “the stigma around skilled trades is starting to dissipate.” “People are realizing that it’s a good first-choice career. Instead of pursuing university and a white-collar career, where people are getting out into the workforce and finding that they can’t find steady AUGUST 2022
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