By Mike Davey
Toronto, Ontario — November 8, 2013 — Collision repairers came, they saw and they hired, making AYCE Employment Services’s first Career Path – Auto Body Fair a definite success. The event took place November 8 at the Radisson Hotel at 55 Hallcrown Place in Toronto, Ont.
The event is part of the AYCE Pre-apprentiship Training Program. The major sponsors of the program are I-CAR, Brimell Group Paint & Collision Center ~ CSN and MAACO Canada. Brimell Group Paint & Collision Center ~ CSN have provided training facilities and equipment for the program since its inception and MAACO Canada runs the annual “MAACO Day†event and provides students with 3M gear.
Under the program, all hired candidates will also receive WHMIS and VOC Training as well as an introduction to estimating and some I-CAR Training.
Marc Tremblay is the Coordinator of the Pre-apprenticeship Training Program for AYCE. He says hired candidates will receive other support as well, such as coveralls, safety boots, subsidized transit. The hiring collision centre not only nets a new employee, but financial incentives as well.
“Participating collision repair facilities will receive generous subsidies that definitely help to offset the cost of training,†he says, noting that there is an opportunity for shops to access up to $6,800 in employment incentives and a further $1,000 in training subsidies on the successful hiring of a young person into the industry.
As most of those new employees become apprentices in the compulsory licensed trade of Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer, the employer is also eligible for a further annual tax credit of up-to $10,000 in the form of the Apprenticeship Training Tax Credit.
“Shops that participate and hire a young person through this program will get at least $6,800 over the following four months,” says John Norris of Collision Industry Information Assistance. “One way to look at it as getting a person in for four months, and it’s only costing you $1.85 an hour.”
The funding in question is also available for other shops that are interested in hiring new employees. Currently, the funding is available for shops in the Toronto, Hamilton and London areas. Employers simply contact AYCE in Toronto, Mohawk College’s Employment Services in Hamilton or CES Fanshawe College in London to enroll, find their young worker and participate in the incentive funding. There are plans to make the funding available in other communities as well.
For more information on the AYCE Pre-apprenticeship Training Program, please contact Marc Tremblay at 416-491-7000 Ext. 203 or mtremblay@ayce.on.ca.
