黑洞社区

Unions have backed a motion from Ucatt calling for government contracts to include clauses requiring contractors to provide craft-based apprenticeships.

The move, which the Trades Union Congress (TUC) unanimously passed, came as skills secretary John Denham announced that the government was establishing a 鈥榗learing house鈥�. The aim is to match apprentices at risk of redundancy with employers so that they can complete their training.

In his speech to the TUC, Denham emphasised that the planned 42 000 apprenticeships by 2012 鈥渨ill provide proper training, in real jobs so that we can build the sector鈥檚 future and that of its workforce.鈥�

He added: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to lose young, skilled trainees from the industry. In the past construction has been kept afloat by an uncertain and fluctuating pool of migrant labour.鈥�

Wilf Flynn, executive council member of Ucatt for the northern region, said: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 train a tradesperson by sitting them in a classroom. If we don鈥檛 get it right, we won鈥檛 have apprentices today and we certainly won鈥檛 have them tomorrow.鈥�