A fifth of craft apprentices say they have been paid below prescribed minimum rates and almost half (46 per cent) say their qualification is being delayed because of a lack of assessors or tutors and other problems in the system.
A new survey by trade union Connect highlights some of the challenges many of the 22,000 craft apprentices currently in training, most of them young workers, have to endure.
As it is, the union says, the poor pay and other issues are acting as a deterrent at a time when a substantial increase in numbers is required to meet demand for skilled labour in a sector that is supposed to ramp up the number of homes being built over the coming years.
“The crisis in our apprentice system should be a national scandal, with nearly one in five apprentices dropping out before full qualification,” says Connect’s Brian Nolan.
“It was tough at times but worth it all,” says Stuart Lawrence on becoming an electrician at 44. “It’s a different experience when you’re not coming straight into it from school but I’ve loved it and I really like the work now.”
Mr Lawrence left school in the UK almost 30 years ago. He was, he says, encouraged to do his A-levels then go to college but couldn’t see what the end goal was and so settled for his GCSEs and went straight into the workforce instead.
There were stints in warehousing, distribution and a few other things along the way. There were also two years in the Caribbean before he, his partner and their daughter, Sophie, landed in Ireland a decade ago. After that, he worked in retail for a bit before concluding the often short shifts didn’t cover the cost of childcare and so he landed a job in construction as a general operative with Dublin-based contractors Apollo.
“I asked them if they would put me through my apprenticeship which they were more than happy to do. I didn’t register until I was just shy of 40 years old and five years on I’ve just qualified with a distinction. It’s been a great experience,” he said.
“I was lucky because my employer looked after me, otherwise the pay would have been a really big cut in pay but for the times I was away from work studying it was hard, there was a big cut ... I had to go to the ETB [Education & Training Board] in Tullamore for a couple of spells and the money then wouldn’t have covered my tolls.
“It’s great, though. I’m not averse to learning. I’ve done a health and safety course recently to use within the construction industry, and a few other bits just to keep your brain ticking over and make myself more employable.
“We’re kind of in a little bubble at the moment where employment is pretty good, especially in this industry, but it won’t always be there. I know what it’s like to be the first one let go because you don’t have skills. It happened me a few times in the recession.”
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