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Issue No. 236 | 03 September 2004 |
Interest Overboard
Interview: True Matilda Politics: State of Play Industrial: Capital Dilemmas Unions: Rhodes Scholars National Focus: Rennovating the Lodge International: People Power Economics: A Bit Rich History: Mine Shafts Safety: Sick Of Fighting Organising: Building a Wave Poetry: Anger In The Bush(es) Review: The Battle Of Algiers Culture: The Word On The Street
Sprung: Howard Liberal with Truth Health Warning for Bank Robbers Offensive Toilets Threaten Pupils Telstra Dials Workplace Acquiescence Privatisation Debate Energised
The Soapbox Politics Postcard The Locker Room Postcard
Co-operating At All Costs Fan Mail All Good Except You
Labor Council of NSW |
News Sprung: Howard Liberal with Truth
The first Liberal TV ad of the election campaign has been sprung for distorting apprentice numbers, promoting calls for a correction.
The ad, broadcast nationally last week, claimed that apprentice numbers had tripled under the Howard Government to more than 400,000. In fact, latest data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research shows only 133,376 traditional apprentices are undergoing training in Australia. The party political ad went to air as business representatives and economists predicted skills shortages would stunt Australia's economic growth. ACTU president, Sharan Burrow, is calling for an immediate correction to be broadcast. "The so-called apprenticeships that the ad refers to include short-term traineeships in fast food chains, fish and chip shops, juice bars and bakery franchises," Burrow said. "These traineeships have no structured training and many are taken up be existing workers, leading to suggestions of employer rorts to obtain wage subsidies. "It is wrong for John Howard and Peter Costello to pretend a 12 or 18 month traineeship for a kitchenhand in a fast food outlet is a commitment to apprentice training. It is dishonest." The figure used by the Liberal Party in its advertising includes short-term trainees as well as traditional apprentices. The Federal Government labelled short-term job trainees in shops and fast food chains "new apprentices" and the Liberal Party has rolled them into its published apprenticeship figures. The ACTU predicts apprenticeship shortages of around 25,000 a year will cost the country up to $9 billion over the next decade. It calls the federal "new apprenticeship" program "seriously flawed" because it offers employers of four-year trade apprentices the same $4125 subsidy received by employers of burger flippers on one-year traineeships. Unions argue that poor wages for trade apprentices is another problem the government has failed to address. They say an 18-year-old entering a manufacturing apprenticeship is paid $100 a week less than a fast food trainee.
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