Review of apprentice wages overdue
This month the Federal Skills Minister Chris Evans agreed with unions that apprentice wages are too low and don’t suit modern tradies. Peter Tighe from the Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union of Australia says we face a severe skills shortage if those wages are not liveable.
As Australia stands on the precipice of a multi-decade resources boom, we confront an historic challenge. How do we ensure the benefits of the boom are spread far and wide – beyond the mining giants and into the living rooms of all Australian homes?
The passage of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax is a good start. But there’s another challenge in the form of the skills shortage. Unless we urgently begin training and up-skilling the workforce of the future, the highly skilled, highly paid jobs of the future will not be filled by today’s youth.
We’ve been worried about this at the CEPU for some time. In the electrical trades we face a serious undersupply of skilled tradesmen. Alarmingly, only 61 percent of electrical trade jobs are filled at present. This will blow out badly in the years ahead unless something is done now.
The key to resolving this challenge lies in improving apprenticeship completion rates. According to research the CEPU recently commissioned by Sydney University’s Workplace Research Centre, one-third of electrical apprentices do not complete their training.
As National Secretary of the CEPU I meet and speak with these young sparkies regularly. I know, from firsthand experience that it isn’t a lack of interest or dedication that causes young apprentices to abandon the trade.
It’s money. Under the current modern award, a first year electrical apprentice can be paid as little as $225 a week.
Many of us have a convenient image of an apprentice sparkie in our mind. We tend to think of them as a 15 or 16 year, fresh out of high school, living at home with mum and dad and being picked up for work by the boss.
Unfortunately, this image is a fiction.
Twenty years ago, the modern apprentice was less than 19 years old, but today half of all apprentices are older than that. And by their mid-twenties, many have still not completed their training.
The modern apprentice tends to be older, better educated and on the cusp of confronting major life decisions, like getting a mortgage, moving in with a partner or having children.
That’s why almost four in ten are leaving their apprenticeship. If you’re not paid a liveable wage, how do you make major life decisions?
Can you imagine running a car, feeding kids or – heavens forbid – enjoying the odd night out on $225 a week? Virtually no one can.
In August, Fair Work Australia will decide whether to fix this inequitable decision when it completes a major review of apprentice wages. The CEPU will be making a lot of noise about the issue in the meantime, to ensure everyone knows what’s at stake.
This campaign is about more than one group of apprentices. It’s about whether Australia as a society wants to invest in its young and allow them to get the most from the future. I think that’s a principle worth standing up for.
Peter Tighe has held the position of National Secretary of the Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union of Australia (CEPU) since 1995. He is also the Divisional Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) division of the CEPU. He was a member of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission from 1995 to 2005, a member of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council and is now a member of the succession body Safe Work Australia. Peter is the long-standing Chair of EE-Oz Training Standards, having been first appointed as a Director of the organisation in 1995, the industry skills council for the electro technology sector. He is also a director of three other industry related bodies; C+Bus Superannuation, National Electrical and Electronic Industry Training Council, E-Profiling Pty Ltd and an executive member of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
