Robin Greyeyes is from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.
Robin’s past was roofing and siding. Before he came to Trade Winds, his work hours began decreasing and it was like seasonal work for him. He said it was crappy work.
So, he decided to go back to school or training. Along his journey towards this, he met a past client of ours, his wife’s nephew, a former student of TWTS, suggested he give us a call and see if we could help him.
Within a month or so, after he passed the intake process, he started the Trade Winds to Success program here in Calgary on August 6, 2019 and completed the union shop training at the PITS Local 496 Pipefitters and Plumbers Training school, on November 22, 2019.
He currently is a union member with the UA Local 496 and has a union job at Innov8 Fire Ltd as a first year Sprinkler Fitter. Originally, he was going to be a plumber but once he had a tour and did some training at the UA Local 496 he changed his mind.
As a first year, his pay is $23.85 per hour and will only go up as he progresses through his apprenticeship, year after year.
He says it is pretty much name hire for employment and he is glad he was recommended by someone in the UA Local 496.
Robins expectations from this program was way better than he expected. More detailed information and hands-on with top shelf instructors both at Trade Winds and the training shop component. Since it had been +15 years since he was in school, Trade Winds and the union shop training helped him in ways he didn’t think was possible.
He enjoyed meeting new people, such as his classmates, which are now life-long friends and he would do it all over again in a heartbeat. It changed his work and personal life and he recommends our program every chance he gets.
This experience opened new doors and gave him a new sense of self-confidence which he brought with him onto the jobsite. He has better pay, stable hours and if off at 3 PM every day which gives him more time with his kids, which he loves.
He was given a chance of a lifetime and he really wants to come back to Trade Winds to let upcoming students know of his life changing experience.

His motto for this entire life changing experience is:
Head down, keep grinding ~ Robin Greyeyes