trading manager

intern

welder

planner

finance intern

Seaspan-Ulc

A very one sided situation;

There are benefits such as the shifts and on shift work duties are clear 

However, as a casual employee you’re not afforded very much control over your schedule or ability to plan or predict. 

You’ll end up working another job on the side. The issue is management is unaccommodating for the need to work multiple jobs. You’ll find yourself in a situation where you’re not getting enough predictable work hours or consistent scheduling for it to make any financial sense. 

While simultaneously, management makes a lot of empty promises to its employees and will lie to you in order to create the desired outcomes for work.  

For example they’ll bread crumb you with opportunities for advancement which they have no intention on carrying through with.

You’ll find yourself in a situation where they make promises you think they’ll follow through on with advancement. 

You’ll be expected to be available for work on a 24/7 basis and they’ll lie to you inorder to get that desired outcome. You’ll end up sacrificing other opportunities that may have less in terms of hourly earnings, however provide a more consistent schedule. 

Don’t waste time being in a position that misleads you to sacrifice stability, development or advancement you could find elsewhere in your life; while not offering any concrete advancement or stability with them. 

There’s absolutely no balance, management will take from you and then demand more. They’re under a delusion that they’re entitled to your availability on a 24/7  basis. 

They’ll make claims that ‘your employments is predicated upon the basis of being available to take shifts on a 24/7 basis continually’ that has no basis in any policies. 

They’ll threaten to fire you without grounds if you do not comply.

The union wasn’t much help when this happened either. 

They’ll also try to force you to work while sick, such as while sick with Covid and have no regard for the law.

Do not mistake the hourly rate as for financial stability or security.

Also they have issues with employing women. The only woman who I worked with there was not treated well by management. They could use more diversity. 



I am finally ready to give this company a review. It was the best and worst company to work at. Great projects yet the execution and company culture are so poor. 

The company states it promotes inclusion and diversity: well, it only looks for those values while making a video of how it is inclusive. Women were asked to step out before government officials while they are touring company, yet you can count in one hand women being promoted or occupying management or c-suite ranks( you probably need less than 1-2 fingers to count). 

When it comes to retention - 50% people leave seaspan. Thats states something about the company. Within 2 years - everyone i was working with was either let go or left. 

The company states it builds “canadian shipbuilding industry” yet the majority of people managing and working are from abroad: uk, usa, ireland, Australia. There is very little of “canadian content”. 

The values of the company: safety, care, efficiency and acountability - those are unfortunately just written on the wall. Lets address those. Safety - when I raised a concern that our contractors are not notified about safety issues or even the fire alarms - that unfortunately “could not have been done because of the system”. Care? They dont care about its own employees, let alone others. Efficiency - none observed; If anything -  everything is inneficient. And it sad that these are our canadian tax payers money that are burned through inefficient processes, procedures, mistakes, poor management and staff who is mediocre. Accountability - well the company cant meet its own deadlines. The ships deliveries are late and cost 3-4x times if we purchased those elsewhere. 

The company does not promote people who work hard and want to succeed. The company has it own guys club - and those within can be promoted. Others, get burned and discarded. It is a place where you get burned, used and abused. The place which promotes mediocre people and hard working people get demotivated and burned out. That sums it up. Great projects. Poor company and mediocre management.

The only way to keep your job at this employer is brown nose to the forth flour managers who are inept. They will then make you a charge hand (foreman) then lay off everyone else keeping the brown nosers behind. They'll then put them back on the tools after the seniority list layoff.

 Theres been several times where they've called trades people from all over Canada to work at the location. Only to lay those workers off within a day or 2 of arriving. No foresight and careless attitudes about people traveling long distance for the job. Words out now...

This employer is the epitome of nepotism and anti union actions upon the working folks there. Most the 4th floor managers are weak minded and inferior trades people leading from one mishap to another. They are well protected although, because these folks protect their positions by pointing fingers at labour who they continually mismanage.

Currently they are offering a large LOA to people across Canada to come work there. But unfortunately the jig is up, words out...  no one wanna work at dirty politics jobs. The 4th floor managers with their inept management skills are costing upper management and ownership huge issues that upper management is blind to. 95% of these 4th floor managers need to kick rocks. House needs cleaning.

this company pays good
and has good retirement benefits.
good tradesmen to work with
I learned a bit also I did teach a bit too.
On the negative:
Charge hands and foremen are mostly okay until you get to managers and upper management they are too political and rarely  listen from the bottom up.Some of these are too self absorb although most of them come from other shipyards that went broke or shut down.
Is amazing that they do not provide easy access to the job site,on some of the new ships you were required to walk five stories up and then five stories down sometimes to reach the job site inside the ship,ridiculous.
This is a big huge yard,no transportation available to different job sites.They only provide transportation to the people that need it the least,foremen,safety officers etc.these they get a golf car to get around although they get around only twice a day okay maybe four times.
Very little advancement for experienced older guys they prefer younger personal mainly women although there are other types too.
This is my opinion only of course.I have not worked in the company for almost two years so there might be changes already.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Good wages, boring work, hands-down the most psychologically toxic work environment/culture I have been involved with.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The looming potential/threat of lay off. They will dangle this above your head. The union will keep taking your Union dues without truly planning on calling you back, dragging you along with another carrot.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Fluctuating work-loads, as per the shipping industry. Long-term, monotonous government projects. Not busy enough to keep you doing tasks but busy enough to keep you employed. Just dont get caught “doing nothing” when there is a lull.

Nepotism and favouritism is your form of seniority/security. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You will not get much satisfaction in seeing a job through until the end. Most of the meat and potatoes so to speak will go to the favoured/protected individuals. Stifling continued education and passion for your trade along with it. But the paycheques are sweet, right?

Corporate public relations lip-service to the health and safety of employees doesn’t translate into effective action; in fact, they either fire, or try to fire, any employee that tries to protect health and safety. Disabling injuries are historically very high, for marine crew members, but management accept it as “ part of the cost of doing business “, while doing much to deny WCB claims.
Wage theft is definitely part of their business plan, and is standard operating procedure . Most of the marine crew members are good people, but management is mostly liars and thieves. They expect loyalty but give none.
These problems are endemic in the marine towing industry, but, because of it’s size, and numerous government lobbyists, government Regulators are unwilling to enforce even the most minimal standards of laws and Regulations, for health and safety, or labour standards.

Spent over a year here as a pwp welder and would not go back through those gates if it was the last welding job on the planet.  A true disappointment for myself as I looked forward to working in a new, state of the art shipyard on exciting projects.   From the top down the buck is continually passed and the costs and quality drift further and further away from each other.  Too many "yes men" move up while some of the best tradespeople I've ever worked with are weeded out for speaking their minds.  The attitude was that to survive there, you had to stop caring in order to keep your sanity.  There were weeks as a welder where I wouldn't be able to strike an arc until Thursday afternoon due to jobs changing, or simply being told to sit tight.  If you want union wages, there are better places to earn them.  If you are the kind of worker who takes pride in your job, keep looking.

The shipyard has me torn, as it has been where I have had some of the most fulfilling and challenging job experiences in my life. It kind of feels like I’m doing my part for Canada. I have never loved a job as much and  never made so much money at a job. Alas,  I felt I was not  going in the direction that I wanted to work  towards. I love the people I work with and  most of them became close friends. The management was very distant and secretive. The hardest part of my job may have been going in some dark deep spot on the ship working my way in there and doing some seemingly impossible task and getting it done anyway. The noise levels are through the roof and safety is on high alert or you get hurt very easily. The most enjoyable part of my job was experiencing things I have never  done before or seen and successfully accomplishing my goals and contracts and of course working my good bud and crew mate.

A typical day at work begins with the typical pre shift meeting where we find out what we are going to be working on then we get to work. I would act as a helper when need of me although I learned very fast and they bumped me up to doing my jobs on my own. As a Mechanic helper every thing we worked on was engine and mechanic  related. In my time with them I learned a great deal, the guys who worked there where all good guys. I get along well with anyone that I work with, something that stands out with me. The management  was good enough, made sure we had every thing we needed and a good safety program in effect. The hardest part about the job is the waiting for the work, this year has been very slow. The best part about the job is the job itself, I love working on big things with good people!

During my time working at Seaspan the company had gone through a lot of change, 3 CEO's and a lot of senior management changes. All of my peers had left the company within my last year, for various reasons.

Significant challenges existed in the labour environment, particularly on the boats. The market had a new entrant which created commercial challenges. These challenges created significant pressures at a corporate level, which were felt throughout the company. 

Within the distinct business units there are a lot of great people, and I greatly enjoyed working with them all. The majority of the line supervision and management had risen through the ranks, leading to an incredible amount of institutional knowledge and credibility. 

Your co-workers and reports will go the extra mile for you, and there can be a real team environment within the divisions and business units.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Trading manager 35 salaries reported	$119,571 per year
Intern 16 salaries reported	$27.13 per hour
Welder 12 salaries reported	$48.08 per hour
Planner 21 salaries reported	$95,905 per year
Finance intern 11 salaries reported	$26.73 per hour

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