CCF WA's Civil Construction Industry Training Committee has put a proposal to the State Government that Certificate III Civil Construction traineeships be re-classified as Apprenticeships in Western Australia.

The committee believes the introduction of Civil Construction Apprenticeships is essential to improve community perceptions of careers in civil. For many young people – and their teachers and parents – civil construction is seen as an inferior option to a building or mechanical trade.

We know that’s not the case – civil is a challenging and rewarding field with a variety of interesting career pathways. But how do we change those perceptions and ensure our industry attracts its share of the best and brightest tradespeople? The best way to start – as other states have already done – is to give Civil Construction qualifications (Plant Operator, Pipelayer, Road Constructor, Trenchless Technician etc) their due recognition as Trades, by re-classifying the Certificate III qualifications as Apprenticeships.

Some of the key benefits are:

• Young Apprentices can be paid a junior wage under the Modern Award (currently, young trainees must be paid a full adult wage, making them a less attractive option for employers).
• The nominal duration of the qualifications will increase from 24 months to 36 months. This will assist contractors to achieve ‘in training’ targets set by clients. Note competency-based progression will still be available, allowing an employer to fast-track progression for early sign-off where qualifications are required in a shorted timeframe. Feedback from RTOs is that the increased duration will allow more flexibility in delivering site-based training, allowing them to deliver higher-quality training.
• Potentially, better funding support from Governments, which tend to regard Apprenticeships more highly  – as we saw a couple of years ago when the State Government cut payroll tax for traineeships and described it as ‘closing a loophole’.
• The qualifications would only be available through an Apprenticeship pathway, i.e. under a training contract with an employer. This will reinforce the status of Civil Construction skills as ‘proper’ trades.

 

For this proposal to be approved, we need to demonstrate to the State regulator that there is broad support from industry. That’s where our members and other industry stakeholders can help by providing a letter of support on your company letterhead.

The key point for the letter to make is that your company supports the re-classification of the Certificate III Civil Construction qualifications (Cert III Civil Construction, Cert III Civil Plant Operations and Cert III Trenchless Technology) to Class A Apprenticeships. You can also outline the key reasons you support this proposal. Click below for a document with some more background information to help. Contact ccfwa@ccfwa.com.au for more info.

Civil Apprenticeships - background info for letters of support.pdf