Hundreds of people braved the winter weather and showed up at the Fishermen’s Hall in Prince Rupert on Thursday, January 19, in hopes of receiving an application to become part of the Local 505 Longshore Division.
“Applications are handed out as needed, we’re talking every couple of years,” said Tom MacDonald, who is the Secretary-Treasurer of the division as well as the dispatcher.
225 applications were handed out to hopeful contenders whose names were drawn from a lottery. Accusations have been circulating that individuals received more than one ticket. That is something the union denies.
“Everybody got one ticket. If anyone had two it’s because they scammed them from another person,” explained MacDonald, adding that some people may have gotten a family member or friend to stand in line for them to assure they got a
ticket.
In addition to Thursday’s “lottery” winners, a number of applications were handed out to First Nations and recommended people from the industry. MacDonald assures that although they got applications earlier, it doesn’t guarantee they will be hired.
The union will now have to go through each application and give it a score based on education, experience, training, etc..., and then the applicants with the highest scores will be considered for hire after they take their medical tests. The union did it this way because each applicant must do their medical, and they “didn’t want to bombard the hospital here”.
MacDonald said the number of applicants selected for hire depends, giving a rough estimation of about 100 applicants who will receive part time positions in a couple of weeks.