Cory Krahnebil: Cooking up an exciting career
- Saskatchewan Building Trades Council | December 12, 2016
When Cory Krahnebil goes for a drive, he can take a tour of the projects he has been involved with.
Krahnebil is a sheet metal worker. As part of his job, he fabricates, assembles, installs and repairs sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes and furnace casings.
“I worked on the VIDO-InterVac (research institute) at the University of Saskatchewan and contributed to Health Sciences building additions, for example, and it’s nice to drive around Saskatoon and look at those buildings,” Krahnebil said. “When you finish up a project, you feel pretty proud.”
Growing up in Prince Albert, Krahnebil had a passion for cooking and wanted to be a chef. However, he found that pursuing this hobby as a full-time career made it less enjoyable. After high school, he started working alongside his brother in the sheet metal trade and knew this was the path for him.
“I loved that there’s always so much going on in the trade and you get to work with your hands. You also meet some great people,” he said. “Unlike cooking, working with sheet metal is not exactly a hobby you’re going to develop. However, it does teach you some valuable life skills. I am able to make repairs in my home if something breaks down.”
During Krahnebil’s first two years in the trade, however, he was not a member of the union and struggled to find steady work bouncing back and forth between Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
“A couple of days after I started working for one company in Saskatoon, I got the flu and had to take a few days off. Once I got back, they kept telling me there was no work for me today because they were mad I had called in sick,” Krahnebil said. “I went back to Prince Albert and staying with my mom. I ended up working at Walmart for about seven months.”
In 2009, he joined Sheet Metal Workers - Local 296, and since then has been able to find steady and meaningful work. For the past four years, he has been working at Agrium’s Vanscoy potash mine.
“Joining the union was a great decision for me,” Krahnebil said. “The union provides top-notch education and a great benefit package. One of my favourite things about the union is the pension plan; we have one of the best pension plans.”
He jokes that probably the only benefit he got from working in a non-unionized workplace is that it led him to work at Walmart, where he met his future wife. The couple know lives in Saskatoon and just welcomed a baby girl into the world.
“When I’m not working, I really enjoy spending time with my family,” Krahnebil said. “I also like firing up the barbeque and working on vehicles. I’m also in the middle of starting up my own business. I’m trying to line things up.”
Saskatchewan Building Trades Council
1111 Osler Street, Regina SK, S4R 8R4