Apprentices locked out

It’s the government’s own National Apprenticeship Week – a week celebrating the positive impact training schemes can have for those seeking a way into skilled, well-paying work.

While many apprenticeships are little more than exploitative work arrangements, there are some on offer that truly change lives. Building Lives, a construction apprenticeship sponsored by the Construction Industry Training Board, was one such shining example.

But now, Building Lives may be, in fact, wrecking them, as hundreds of apprentices were very suddenly told they were at risk of redundancy last Friday (March 6), after funding for the apprenticeship was allegedly cut at the last minute.

Then, as four apprentices turned up on a scheduled college day yesterday at the Building Lives Academy in Hackney, London, they were locked out without explanation.

Dritan Dauti was nearing the end of the apprenticeship, and was filled with hope for his future.

“I’d been made redundant in 2011 and since then, I’d been in and out of jobs for years,” he explained. “It’s a two year apprenticeship, and I was supposed to finish in August. This was really a second chance for me. I really had been learning a lot. And then they just left us out in the cold.”

Dauti explained that in meetings last week when the apprentices were warned about impending redundancies, all they were offered was a potential traineeship.

“Many of us had almost completed the apprenticeship,” he said. “A traineeship is something you take on before an apprenticeship. I was absolutely shocked what they offering. It’s like almost completing a bachelor’s degree and then being offered the so-called ‘opportunity’ to do your GCSEs. And to think this is all happening during National Apprenticeship Week.”

Shocked

Michael Reilly, another locked out apprentice, was also shocked by the treatment they received as they sought to attend their scheduled college day.

“We were supposed to be there, and they treated us like criminals,” he said. “All I could feel was distress and anger. I had put so much into this apprenticeship.”

Michael’s cousin, Paul Reilly, who was also on the apprenticeship scheme, agreed.

“All of my effort, both manual and mental, had gone into completing this apprenticeship,” he said. “I had relied on it and based my entire future on it.”

Bev Carrington, one of the many women apprentices on the scheme, remembers signing the contract for the apprenticeship.

“We were guaranteed the apprenticeship, and now they’ve just kicked this out and locked us out without any support,” she explained.

Local Unite Community member Terry Stewart, spoke to the apprentices and offered to help. He then contacted Unite Community’s London co-ordinator.

“Yesterday (March 10), Unite Community acted swiftly to bring four apprentices locked out of their college and issued with notice of redundancy into the biggest trade union in the UK to demand that ‘Building Lives’ makes good on its commitment to train 500 construction apprentices across London,” Unite Community Co-ordinator Janet MacLeod explained.

“Terry recognised the injustice of locking out students from their own college and was determined to fight it under the banner of Unite Community,” she added. “Unite Community is very proud to support its industrial members in their fight for justice – an injury to one is an injury to all.”

MacLeod noted that the apprenticeship is particularly unique in that it draws people from all walks of life. Women make up 7 per cent of apprentices – a very high proportion for a construction apprenticeship. 40 per cent are ex-offenders and half are minorities. The vast majority – 89 per cent – land jobs at the end of the apprenticeship.

“This is just the sort of scheme that the industry should be getting behind - not making redundancies before the end of the course,” she said.

Stay tuned on UNITElive for the latest on the story, as Unite and the locked out apprentices work together in their fight for justice.