“Apprentices should form a major part of our union’s future,” Susan Kennedy of the service group executive told UNISON local government delegates in Liverpool this afternoon.
She added that a basic wage of £2.65 an hour for modern apprentices is “disgraceful”.
Delegates agreed and called for a living wage and proper education and training for all apprentices.
Ms Kennedy called for branches to work with further education colleges to make sure that apprentices get proper training and to prevent unscrupulous employers using them as cheap replacement labour for other workers.
“If you value the work that apprentices do,” she told employers, “you must pay them a proper wage, a living wage.”
Andrew Thomas of Bolton, a former apprentice himself, added: “We must make sure that apprentices are not the victims of what is effectively theft of what they have earned.
“We must use our collective strength to change the future not just for young people but for everyone.”
