Centre for Workplace Skills (CWS)

This case study examines how an action centre helped workers after the closure of the manufacturing plant where they worked.

In September 2008, John Deere, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment and light transportation vehicles, announced that it would close its plant in Welland, Ontario, within two years and move its operations to the United States and Mexico.

This document offers an overview of the United Steelworkers’ Toronto Area Council’s Adjustment Centre, established in 2003 to help laid-off steelworkers upgrade their skills and get access to retraining.

In October 2009, West Fraser Mills announced the closure of the Eurocan pulp and paper mill, which had been operating for 40 years in Kitimat, British Columbia. The closure meant the loss of more than 500 jobs.

Municipal leaders, the Rural BC Secretariat, and many community partners worked together with the company and two locals of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union to develop a worker transition strategy.

When the Nygard garment manufacturing plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba, closed in 2008, it put 230 people, many of them immigrant women with limited literacy and numeracy skills, out of work. This document describes collaborative efforts designed to help many of these workers receive retraining and move on to other careers.

This is a case study of how community partners teamed up with the federal and provincial governments to help a small town cope with the loss of its biggest employer.

The Tembec newsprint mill opened in 1926 in the small community of Pine Falls, Manitoba. In the face of declining North American newsprint sales, the mill closed permanently in September 2010.

This document describes the organization and workings of the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ), a joint union-employer organization that offers more than a thousand training programs for the 26 trades and 30 occupations in the construction sector in Quebec.

This document describes how a Nova Scotia company partnered with the province’s Department of Labour and Workforce Development to identify and address emerging Essential Skills training needs caused by growth, labour market forces, and new technology.

This case study looks at an eight-hour adjustment course designed by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union to help workers prepared for the impending closure of Ford’s assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, in 2011.

This document outlines an apprenticeship training program undertaken by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post Corporation (CPC) to help qualified employees upgrade their skills and gain access to opportunities for promotion.

This is a case study of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union’s workplace training program, which focuses both on issues specific to the workplace, union and industry, and on broader political and economic issues.