The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union is once again calling on the government to back a minimum wage increase for apprentices and trainees in the printing and other manufacturing trades market sector.
The union (AMWU) says that a study it carried out of apprentice wages has ‘blown a hole’ in company complaints to the Fair Work Commission that they can’t afford to pay first year trainees a better wage.
The study of 253 apprentices showed that the AMWU’s case to boost the first-year wage to above half the adults’ trade rate would add no more than 2.53 per cent to the wage bill for apprentices.
- ACTU secretary Dave Oliver (left) and AMWU president Andrew Dettmer (right) hear apprentices tell their stories to the media outside the Fair Work Commission in March.
The total increase to manufacturing employers’ overall expenses would be just 0.07 per cent.
The findings were presented to a Fair Work Commission wage case led by the AMWU. Witnesses at the hearing told of the struggle some have in trying to survive on pay well below the minimum wage – as little as $7.80 an hour for first-years.
Commissioners were told some apprentices could not afford to pay for accommodation when doing block release training in another town or city, with ‘couch surfing’ among friends common.
The manager of auto apprenticeships at the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Nigel Muller, also gave evidence that during his time as a trainer at Box Hill he saw apprentices sleeping in their cars overnight as the only way to attend TAFE.
The AMWU joined with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and other unions in making the case for raising the wages of first year apprentices to 50-60 per cent of the adult trades’ rate, which would be the first boost in 33 years.
A prime aim of the union’s wage increase campaign is to stop the high dropout rate among apprentices.
The union is also seeking to boost retention by dropping the adult apprentice starting age from 21 to 20 and to ensure employers pay TAFE training fees and travel expenses.
“Our survey asked apprentice members what concerned them and they told us stories of real hardship,” said the head of the AMWU’s research unit, Sally Taylor. “It’s low wages, travel costs and not enough workplace instruction, advice or opportunity to practice new skills. Apprentices don’t want to be used as cheap labour.”
The cost findings for manufacturing employers were presented to the Commission’s inquiry by AMWU economist Nixon Apple, who drew on the survey work of the union’s research unit headed by Taylor.
The AMWU’s study of apprentices found it was common practice across the metals trades to pay over the award, minimising the overall cost impact to employers if the AMWU’s rises were granted.
Because the AMWU claim was largely targeted at first-year apprentices and adult apprentices, the impact of the pay rise is strictly limited.
“We would suggest to the Commission that it is hard to envisage a realistic scenario where the AMWU proposed changes represent more than a three per cent weighted average increase in the apprentice wages bill of (manufacturing) employers,” Apple said.
The AMWU’s formal claim for a junior apprentice with Year 10 school-standard is a 19 per cent pay increase, from $7.80 per hour to $9.29 per hour.
Apple said that if the inquiry decided not to grant the union’ claim it would “further entrench the negative perception” of apprenticeships in manufacturing.
Such perceptions “are considered by both business and union leaders as a major impediment to the future success of the industry.”
The Commissioners have now heard all evidence from unions and employers and have adjourned to consider their decision, which is expected in the next few months.