Representatives of the two major unions and employers’ associations yesterday urged the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) to consult with them when it comes to designing apprenticeship schemes, particularly those planned to run over a lengthy period.
A round table conference that the General Workers’ Union (GWU) organised in collaboration with ETC yesterday, discussed industrial relations and ways of making ETC employment schemes more effective.
Several speakers, including representatives of GWU and Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the Federation of Industry and Malta Employers’ Association, emphasised the need to curb abuse and to strengthen the ETC’s monitoring system with regard to apprenticeship schemes.
Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea spoke about the importance of introducing more measures and ETC schemes that would encourage women to join the workforce.
He said the government was also working on the “making work pay” concept with other EU member states in order to come up with a number of incentives for people to work.
Referring to apprenticeship schemes in general, Dr Galea said the training schemes are not only intended for the unemployed, but also to provide life-long education and training, helping people to remain employable.
ETC chief executive officer Sue Vella also spoke about the corporation’s mission “to strengthen clients’ employability”.
The ETC acknowledges the need for a better mechanism that would provide for more collaboration with unions and employers’ associations with regard to design and evaluation of apprenticeship schemes, said Ms Vella, adding that the corporation also understands the need for a stronger monitoring system in a manner that ensures that abuse is kept to a minimum.
Addressing the last part of yesterday’s event, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb also referred to the need to curb abuse and he said the union was committed to collaborate with the ETC and the Labour Office in this regard.
He added that it must also be ensured that people who join one of the ETC’s apprenticeship schemes are protected.
“We have to ensure that people joining the schemes are physically safe at their work place,” said Mr Zarb, adding that the government’s proposal to introduce a scheme for the long-term unemployed, in the forthcoming Budget, needs to be revised.
Mr Zarb said the government had proposed that such people work a 30-hour week, for which they would be paid 75 per cent of the minimum wage.
He said the proposal was positive as a concept in itself, but those joining the scheme should be paid on a pro-rata basis, while work conditions should be the same as those of other people employed by the same entity.