With the booming oil industry, companies in the Weyburn area need to look outside the province (and sometimes the country) to find the employees they require. For the company of Tremcar West Inc.
With the booming oil industry, companies in the Weyburn area need to look outside the province (and sometimes the country) to find the employees they require. For the company of Tremcar West Inc., they have found a place for French-Canadian employees who moved to Weyburn from Montreal.They are very good workers. We are building a good foundation by bringing over the best of the best, said Suzanna Nostadt, vice-president of Tremcar West. Because they are used to working in a different atmosphere, where they had to work against a lot of pressure because of the failing economy, I have found that their work ethic is strong.Two of these employees are T.K. Oman and Eric Menard. Oman has been in Weyburn since Sept. 7, 2009. He moved here from a suburb of Montreal, ten minutes from the island. It was a bit of a population difference, he laughed. During his time in Quebec, TK excelled in his chosen career of welding, doing every possible kind of welding position.As for Eric Menard, he has only been in Weyburn for the last five months. He grew up in Granby, Que., and his chosen career is mechanics and welding. It was their careers that brought Oman and Eric both to Tremcar Montreal. A change of direction came, after the recession hit that area in 2008.They laid off a lot of people, but I was saved, said Oman. His path to Weyburn started with a contract. Then in the month of June (2009) I got the offer to come here (to Weyburn) and do a contract on asphalt tankers with Tremcar West.Tremcar didnt want to lose their best workers, laughed Menard, in reference to why he and TK had been selected to be sent to Tremcar West.It was an adventure to not be in the safety of home, laughed Oman. After his contract was completed, Oman received some career advice from his boss at Tremcar Montreal. He was telling me that I was young, and that I should move out here. When I got back home, I looked at the economic situation in Quebec, and it wasnt looking so good. So (my choices) were either I tried to keep my job and possibly get laid off or leave everything behind, go on an adventure and return to Weyburn.His decision to return to Weyburn was a wise one. After I moved here, everyone was pretty much laid off one month after my decision.For Eric, his choice had been obvious to make. I had no child, no house, no wife so why not? It was an opportunity to learn English too.Learning English was one of the more difficult things for Eric to understand and fortunately he has TK willing to translate for him. Expressions are hard, the verbs and learning the slang.There are differences between working in Weyburn and what Oman had known in Montreal. The size factor is different and the mentality of the people is different. Also the French-English (ratio) is very different, but I am gifted to be almost perfectly bilingual so it was easier for me to adapt.The type of trucker contracts that Tremcar West performs is also different when compared to Tremcar Montreal. We did dry bulk there, while here it is more crude oil truckers. So for me it was a big learning change, said Oman. It was almost a restart, but I am learning fast.As much as I came here to work, I also came here to learn and see what was outside of my little bubble at home, explained Oman. I took advantage of the situation because there is a lot of expansion in the oil business and lots of money to be made. In my free time, I have been reading books on SGI, or brake manuals just to excel at Tremcar West.The new partnership at Tremcar West made their daily routines fun and a challenge, according to Nostadt. It is definitely an asset to have bilingual workers, because it gives us the opportunity to diversify ourselves.
