Editorial Here’s to you, jack-of-all-trades

The days of specialty labor jobs in the mining industry are fast coming to an end. In today’s dynamic underground working environment, the “jack-of-all-trades” is in high demand. The multi-skilled miner who can competently handle any one of a jackleg, scoop, truck, jumbo, hydraulic hammer or a plethora of other jobs is more valuable to a company than someone with just one or two skills. The same is true in the mill.

It would seem this opinion is shared by managers of mining companies, the Ontario Ministry of Labor and the unions which represent mine and mill workers in the province. Their representatives have been meeting for some time now on a tri- partite committee, organized to institute a mandatory training program for all new mill operators. The program is expected to be introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Skills Development in about six months.

Ken Holmeshaw, co-ordinator of the program, says it is being designed along the lines of the common core training program taken by all new employees working underground in the province since 1979. The common core milling program, consisting of 50 training modules covering nine different work areas, will ensure that each worker in the mill has the basic skills required to work safely and efficiently in a variety of job situations. It will also provide flexibility and upward mobility to motivated workers.

Because the program is less physically demanding than the hardrock common core program, it may even open the door for more women to find employment in the industry.

The Ontario training program is a noble undertaking which we think should be emulated by other provinces where mining is a major employer.