{"id":11842,"date":"2017-03-20T17:05:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T17:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11842"},"modified":"2017-03-21T10:30:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T10:30:39","slug":"dont-rip-off-youth-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11842","title":{"rendered":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0098rip off\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 our youth call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just days before National Apprenticeship Week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c designed by the government \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an apprenticeship appeared on the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0098apprentice sandwich artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Posted by fast food chain Subway, the position pays \u00c2\u01413.50 an hour for 37 hours a week, which amounts to little more than \u00c2\u0141100 a week. Apprentices will learn how to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bexecute proper food handling, safety and cleaning standards whilst handling food\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bgreet customers and prepare orders\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 among other skills.<\/p>\n

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Subway sandwich artists who are employees, on the other hand, earn at least the minimum wage of \u00c2\u01417.20 an hour if not more, and the skills required of a regular employee are virtually the same as that of a Subway apprentice.<\/p>\n

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Employees only undertake a handful of hours of training before they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on the job on their own, while the apprenticeship posted on the government website demands a full 12 months of \u00e2\u20ac\u015btraining\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an entire year earning only \u00c2\u0141500 a month, well below the poverty line \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all for doing a job mostly undertaken by people earning more than twice as much.<\/p>\n

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Unite national office Rhys McCarthy argued that in this case it was obvious bosses were abusing the apprenticeship brand to exploit young people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re under 19 years old and classified as an apprentice, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only entitled to \u00c2\u01413.40 an hour. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re older, for the first year of your apprenticeship you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also on \u00c2\u01413.40.<\/p>\n

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The advert wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only Subway sandwich artist apprenticeship to be posted on the official government database \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as of writing, at least three others were on the site<\/a>, with one branch in Gateshead offering eight different positions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Breaking point\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

McCarthy said Subway\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advert for an apprentice \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sandwich artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstretches the definition of apprenticeship to breaking point. The multi-national sandwich maker is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098looking more like a rip off artist.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter many years of campaigning for the return of genuine apprenticeships for young people, Unite welcomed the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s levy to increase the number of apprenticeships, but this must not be used as an exploitation charter by unscrupulous bosses to hire young people on the cheap,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf the government is serious about making apprenticeships work, than it must act to stop rogue employers using the apprenticeship scheme as a cheap form of labour. We certainly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect rich multinationals like Subway to be exploiting young people in this way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been nearly two years since the government pledged in 2015<\/a> to create 3m apprenticeships by the 2020. In 2017, figures showed that the government has in fact been on track to realise this goal<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in January, 780,000 new apprenticeship starts had been recorded since May 2015.<\/p>\n

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In the first quarter of 2016-2017, 155,600 starts were recorded \u00e2\u20ac\u201c above the 150,000 starts needed to meet the 3m new apprenticeships goal.<\/p>\n

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But Unite has long argued that government targets risk placing an emphasis on quantity over quality \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and a look at the latest figures proves this to be true.<\/p>\n

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Of the new apprenticeship starts recorded in the first quarter of 2016-2017, only 6 per cent were higher or degree equivalent apprenticeships, with the vast majority being level 2 (84,010) or level 3 (62,510). To put this into context, the Subway sandwich artist apprenticeship is classified as level 2, the lowest level classification.<\/p>\n

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Part of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pledge to create 3m new apprenticeships was also to legally protect the apprenticeship brand. This, the government said, would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrengthen their reputation, help working people and ensure apprenticeships are recognised as a career path equal to higher education.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Last year, legal protection for the label \u00e2\u20ac\u015bapprenticeship\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 became a reality under the Enterprise Act 2016. Now, it is an offence for companies to use the term \u00e2\u20ac\u015bapprenticeship\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 unless it is a legally recognised one that meets certain criteria.<\/p>\n

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But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that the bar has been set high \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sandwich artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 apprenticeships meet this criteria.<\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible too that \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sandwich artists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 are among the apprenticeships being counted as part of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 3m by 2020 goal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Department of Education could not be reached for comment in time to confirm.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Gold standard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite believes such standards are nowhere near good enough. The union has and continues to lobby for what it calls \u00e2\u20ac\u015bgold-standard\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 apprenticeships \u00e2\u20ac\u201c placements that are at least three years long and offer real transferable skills leading to decent, well-paid jobs at the end of the apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

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Such apprenticeships are common in unionised workplaces. Unite acting general secretary Gail Cartmail explained that quality apprenticeships in construction<\/a> that Unite has experience with are \u00e2\u20ac\u015boften the best deal a young person can have\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to take out loans, they earn while they learn, and they should be covered by a collective agreement so they get the apprenticeship rate that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s negotiated by a trade union,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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She went on to say that apprentices on such schemes have a mentor who is craftsperson or tradesperson who helps set them on a path towards a lifelong career.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe apprentices we send out as ambassadors are solvent, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re confident, they have a great relationship with the employers who have invested in them, and they have real job security,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Cartmail noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey usually have a car, often they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saving for their own home even \u00e2\u20ac\u201c good apprenticeships can be a great success story.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Rhys agreed that unionised workplaces and quality apprenticeships often go hand in hand and he urged apprentices to join up.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe best form of protection is for apprentices to get together and join a union like Unite,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUp and down the country trade union recognised companies are providing decent apprenticeships –\u00c2\u00a0 the kind young people need with proper training in skilled occupations to help them get ahead in the labour market.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just days before National Apprenticeship Week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c designed by the government \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an apprenticeship appeared on the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0098apprentice sandwich artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.     Posted by fast food chain Subway, the position pays \u00c2\u01413.50 an hour for 37 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[260,489,71],"wps_subtitle":"So-called trainee \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sandwich artists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 exploited","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11844,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions\/11844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}