No working person should be paid less than minimum wage. Yet our apprentices, those learning vital crafts and trades that help build homes and keep the roofs over our heads, are paid less than minimum wage.
It’s no wonder there’s a crisis in the construction sector. Under Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, our young people are fleeing from apprenticeships, opting to enter properly paid employment. There was a drop of more than 300 apprenticeship registrations last year compared to 2021 — down from 8,607 to 8,286. It must be meaningfully addressed.
That’s why today in the Dail Labour will demand a range of emergency housing measures and call on government to end the exclusion of apprentices from minimum wage legislation to encourage more workers into trades.
Exclusions
Contractors are finding it really difficult to retain apprentices and this is confirmed by Connect Trade Union. It said that excluding apprentices from being paid the minimum wage is forcing young workers out of the crafts.
Right now we have a generation of young people who feel totally locked out of home ownership or secure and affordable rental options. More than 90% of 18 to 24-year-olds are concerned that they’ll never own their own home, yet we know from preliminary Census data that more than 166,000 properties lie vacant or derelict across the country.
We need to encourage young people into apprenticeships like building to address the labour shortages that are holding back the building of homes.
We have record levels of homelessness, families stretched beyond their means just to keep a roof over their head, young people leaving our shores once again.
Investing in our apprentices could unlock a long-term solution to labour shortages that are causing delays in delivering homes.
Apprenticeships play a crucial role in Ireland’s economy. We simply can no longer continue to undervalue them.
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