Apprentices employed by engineering outfit, Ausclad Group of Companies (AGC) won a 43% pay rise after the AMWU campaigned for them to be included in the union collective agreement.

The company, based in Kwinana, West Australia employs 46 apprentices, the vast majority of whom have now joined the AMWU and have elected their own delegate, Ashley Blackburn.

Mr Blackburn said the apprentices were very happy and relieved to get the pay rise, particularly with the increases in the cost of living.

“Everyone’s a whole lot happier now and it’s good to be able to have a job with wages you can afford to live on.”

According to WA AMWU President Steve McCartney who coordinated the campaign for the pay rise, the large number of apprentices employed by AGC is due to the persistence and hard work of AMWU delegate, Ray Hall.

“He said to them when he first started ‘You have to put apprentices on’ and they said ‘Fine, we’ll put ‘em on, but you look after them.”

When Mr Hall began working with the company eleven years ago, there were no apprentices employed by the company and he set about doing something to change it.

“I couldn’t believe it when I first started here that there was not one apprentice. Every time you open the newspaper there’s another article about skills shortages and yet so few companies are taking on apprentices. It doesn’t make any sense.

“We need young people learning the trades and becoming skilled workers.”

Mr Hall has managed to increase the numbers to 46 and he hopes to improve on that still.

“We have over 2000 workers. We should have more apprentices.”

AGC have won awards as a result of their commitment to employing apprentices and the types of programs that they’re running.

As Mr Blackburn says, “It’s hard enough to get an apprenticeship, but it’s even harder to get a decent apprenticeship with proper training and where you’re treated well.”