To address the labour shortage affecting the construction industry, Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) and the CFL Players Association (CFLPA) are teaming up to offer training opportunities for players to enter the construction industry.

Most football players in the Canadian Football League already have off-season jobs, so offering them a pipeline into these types of roles is appropriate, especially considering the similarities between the two industries, says the head of the union association.

“Successful construction job sites are very orderly: there’s a chain of command, you put in your eight to 10 hours or maybe more work a day, you get up early, you go to work, and that’s what a CFL player does,” says Sean Strickland, executive director of CBTU in Ottawa.

“Everyone’s got their role to play on a team: they have to be dedicated, they work hard and you show up for the meetings, and be ready to play on game day, and so the kind of atmosphere that they’ve grown accustomed to, since a very young age, matches really well with the dynamics on a construction site.”

The CBTU — which represents 14 unions and more than 600,000 workers — will provide players, current and retired, with access to training.

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