Sub-minimum wage rates for apprentices in the first years of their training continues to deter recruits to trades vital to the delivery of housing and infrastructure critical to the future economic prosperity of the country, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) biennial conference in Belfast heard on Wednesday.
The conference backed a motion from the Connect trade union calling for the application of the National Minimum Wage to all apprentices.
The union’s Stephen Murphy said the average age of first year apprentices in building trades had steadily increased over the years and many now had significant financial obligations. Many were struggling, he said, while many more prospective apprentices couldn’t afford to pursue their chosen career because they faced the prospect of earning about €7 an hour, or in some case less, under the terms of current regulations.
According to research previously carried out by the union and CSO figures, the average age for starting an apprenticeship in the construction industry is 21, 13 per cent of those doing the apprenticeships have at least one child, 46 per cent are renting and 5 per cent will have a mortgage.
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New pay rates for apprentices due to come into effect at the end of this month, start at €7.66 per hour, and it is year three of an apprenticeship before pay exceeds the current National Minimum Wage of €13.50 per hour.
“This is a huge challenge for the country,” said Connect general secretary Paddy Kavanagh. “There’s 80,000 skilled workers required to meet the current demands in housing, 80,000 new workers skilled, craft workers to meet requirements in housing and infrastructure projects.
“How are we going to get them? It’s not a question of bringing them in from other jurisdictions, because the apprenticeship standards don’t match, so we have to train them in Ireland. The only way to do that is to make it attractive for people to become apprentices.”
Mr Kavanagh said many employers in the sector agree pay rates should start with the National Minimum Wage as a baseline but say legislation is required as they would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage if they were to apply them unilaterally.
The conference also backed a motion from Connect that called for the €600 figure on which statutory redundancy is calculated to be brought up to €1,015 in order to align it with average weekly wages.
The union said Micheál Martin had overseen the introduction of the process and setting of the €600 figure as minister for enterprise 21 years ago when the understanding had been it would be regularly updated but this had never happened. It is time to do that, said Connect’s Brian Nolan.
Mick Nerney of the Financial Services Union said those facing redundancy need “fairness and protection at a time they are struggling” while Siptu’s Neil McGowan said thousands of private sector workers are set to be displaced by AI and the statutory redundancy regulations would contribute to the financial hardship they would endure as a result. “It is,” he said, “a pressing issue for the union movement”.
The conference also backed a move to establish a working group at the operation of the Workplace Relations Commission code on the right to request remote working.
The code, which came into effect last year, and is due to be reviewed in 2026, does not require employers to grant remote or hybrid working but regulates how requests have to be considered. It has been repeatedly criticised by unions and those who had requests rejected as a box ticking exercise for employers.
“It is clear the legislation doesn’t favour workers,” said Carol Scheffer of the Communications Workers’ Union. “We need to look for a better code of practice.”
