APPRENTICE 'RIP OFFS'

FFTS president Joe Patti looks at the rotten state of apprenticeships in the furniture industry.

Employers and governments need to stop ripping off apprentices if they want to attract kids to trades and address our future skills shortage in the furniture industries.

The biggest rip offs apprentices face today are:

• the lack of real training on the job
• being used as cheap sweated labour for production work
• ruthless bosses unfairly cutting their apprenticeship short

Young people are not stupid - they are not shying away from the trades because it is not glamourous - all too often a young people are saying ‘why do four years and be treated like a dog when you can get a labouring job on real money from day one’. It does not help that these young people are also hearing horror stories of their mates where they get kicked out by the bosses and can’t finish their apprenticeship. The apprenticeship system was meant to be a contract between a worker and master tradesperson - contract was I will work for almost half wages if you teach them the trade. Sadly in today’s cut-throat furniture industry that contract is broken all the time. That is why the union takes these kinds of breaches very seriously and has taken strong action to protect apprentices – they are the future of our industry and their rights should be respected.

Bosses shed crocodile tears over skills

The bosses all howl that they want more skilled trades people but take a look at how apprentices get treated and you’ll know while young people are avoiding the trades and opting for low skill jobs that pay better.

It is damn hard to pay today’s sky-high rents and your food and transport bills when you are on just $8 an hour. But these are the low wages that apprentices endure. They do it in the hope to get some real training and gain a trade ticket that will given them decent earning power. So it is a rotten shame when these mainly young people get ripped off, and receive no real training and are instead used a production workers.

This should not happen. The suitability test should be applied to ensure that employers who take on apprentices actually have the trades people to overseas apprentices and the trades work to give to apprentices. The apprenticeship system should not be used as a back door way to get cheap labour. This exploitation along with the growing trend to sack apprentices on flimsy grounds send a message to young people that apprenticeships are not a pathway to skills and real jobs.

What if an apprentice gets put on the scrap heap?

If a young worker is sacked midway through their apprenticeship then their qualification is not complete. Too often the union finds that bosses are using the flimsiest excuse to sack apprentices. The sacked apprentice then can’t get trades work and they have just donated their labour to their boss at a huge discount rate. Their mates who have worked as labourers for the same time are miles ahead. Bosses should not be allowed to throw apprentices on the scrap heap in this way. Group training in some ways has let bosses walk away from their individual responsibility to the apprentices. Bosses simply assume that the group training has the contract with the apprentice and it is not their problem. However it is everyone’s problem when the apprenticeship system fails to deliver to young workers. Young workers are not stupid when they or their mates get ripped off with an apprenticeship then they look for other employment. Poor treatment of apprentices causes young people to look at higher paying semi-skilled jobs.

Slick ads no substitute for real on-the-job training

No amount of slick government advertising can make up for the real life rip offs that happen. In an age of mobile phones and the internet young people are quick to share their bad experiences with each other. We hear some horror stories here at the union. And why should kids invest four years’ labour, be treated like production workers and have the risk no-completion hanging over their head? To get more kids into apprenticeships we need to demonstrate that bosses respect apprentices, give them real training and give them a chance to finish their apprenticeship. When young people see apprenticeships are a sure pathway to skills and earning power they will take up apprenticeships.

FFTS Takes up the fight for apprentices

‘If you hear at your work about cases of an apprentice being ripped off, then the union wants to hear about it. We can follow up and we can push for the suitability test is met. In the long run we won’t have a furniture industry unless we invest in skills and that starts with a fair dinkum training and just treatment for all apprentices.’