Apprentices from all over Queensland have met in Brisbane to demand better rights and improvements to the trade training system.
The groundbreaking conference, organised by the AMWU, gave the apprentices the opportunity to hear from the heads of government departments, training organisations, and training experts, and then discuss their experiences and suggest improvements.
AMWU Qld Assistant Secretary, Danny Dougherty, said that the union wanted to hear directly from its apprentice members.
“We know there are significant issues for apprentices regarding the quality of training they receive, their experience at TAFE, and their rights at work in general.
“What we found from this conference is that there are a lot of small but important issues that could be resolved easily but that apprentices didn’t know the union could help them with.”
Acting AMWU National Secretary, Julius Roe, said that the union had been campaigning for improvements to skills training for a long time, and that the conference had driven home the importance of this agenda.
“Our concerns about proper skills training, the role of group training organisations, the issue of low pay for apprentices, and declining completion rates are all important for current and future apprentices, and for our economy as well.
“As a nation, we have the option of investing in skills and improving conditions to attract more apprentices for a high skill/high-tech economy, or of continuing the Howard agenda of driving down wages and skills. It should be a clear choice”, said Mr Roe.
At the end of the two day conference, the apprentices passed a unanimous resolution calling for greater involvement by apprentices in the union, and pledging to begin a campaign to advance apprentice rights.
Brent Wooler, an apprentice fitter from RACS Rockhampton said that it was important for apprentices to get better information about the union, and to understand that they could and should have a say in how their training was conducted and their rights as employees.
“The best thing about the conference was being able to meet other apprentices from all over the place and realise we’re all in the same boat. Now that we know we share the same problems, we can work together to make things better”.