{"id":13321,"date":"2017-09-12T12:11:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T11:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13321"},"modified":"2017-09-12T13:04:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T12:04:01","slug":"going-for-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13321","title":{"rendered":"Going for gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite knows the value of good apprenticeships \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it has a long tradition of being involved in developing them.<\/p>\n

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As Unite delegate Thomas Butler, speaking in support of a motion on apprenticeships at the TUC conference today (September 12), pointed out, good apprenticeships play a key role in skills and career progression.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey also ensure the long term sustainability of the UK economy and its skills base,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGenuine, industry recognised apprenticeships are an excellent investment for UK industry and the public purse.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey can create lifelong employment mobility, a firm foundation for an individual\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working life, and secure a sustainable skills base for the UK.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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But as Butler highlighted, the apprenticeship system is open to abuse.<\/p>\n

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In the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mad dash to achieve its goal of 3m apprenticeships by 2020, anything now counts as an apprenticeship to hit their targets.<\/p>\n

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Butler recounted what UNITElive reported last month<\/a> — on the day school leavers were receiving their GSCE results, many young people were served a raw deal after finishing their education, forced into taking positions that pay very little or even nothing at all.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSuch roles often seek to compensate for the lack of pay by offering training that is supposed to help employees progress in their career,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis includes firms advertising for trainee positions that include periods of unpaid work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Butler stressed that Unite is \u00e2\u20ac\u015btotally opposed to bogus apprenticeships in whatever form they take.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need gold standard apprenticeships that have proper structures, teach useful skills and come with a job at the end,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need to create apprenticeships in new technologies including cyber technology and in the supply chain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Butler noted that while the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s target of 3m apprenticeships within the next three years sounds positive on the surface, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe danger is that anything that remotely looks like an apprenticeship is going to be counted as an apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must avoid creating low quality, cheap and cheerful apprenticeships,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is working with the sector skills councils and other bodies to make sure that happens.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Urging Congress to support the motion, Butler called on trade unions to ensure that there is a full range of high quality training, education and career opportunities for all our young people.<\/p>\n

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The motion was passed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite knows the value of good apprenticeships \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it has a long tradition of being involved in developing them.   As Unite delegate Thomas Butler, speaking in support of a motion on apprenticeships at the TUC conference today (September 12), pointed out, good apprenticeships play a key role in skills and career progression.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[260,792,71],"wps_subtitle":"Unite makes case for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098gold standard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 apprenticeships","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13321"}],"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=13321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13322,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13321\/revisions\/13322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}