2 | AUGUST 2018
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
CARILLION APPRENTICES ‘DUMPED’
BY RECEIVER AND GOVERNMENT
IN ACT OF ‘CRASS STUPIDITY’
Unite, the UK’s construction union, has described the decision by the official receiver
to make redundant 341 Carillion apprentices as an act of ‘crass stupidity’.
The decision to make
the apprentices redundant
was made just as Parlia-
ment went into recess last
week, preventing MPs
from raising concerns at
the decision.
When Carillion collapsed
in January it employed
1,200 apprentices and
following the company’s
demise the Construction
Industry Training Board
(CITB) has found suitable
placements for over 800 of
the affected apprentices.
The decision to make
redundant the remaining
apprentices is a further
blow to the construction
industry which is in the
depths of a deep-seated
skills crisis. In 2016/17
there were just 21,010
people on construction
apprentice courses, the de-
cision to make the remain-
ing Carillion apprentices
redundant reduced the
entire UK’s apprenticeship
numbers by 1.6 per cent.
The axing of the appren-
tices once again demon-
strates the government’s
failure to deal with the
collapse of Carillion. As
the UK’s biggest construc-
tion client, the govern-
ment could have used its
procurement power to
ensure that all of Carillion’s
apprentices were found
suitable new placements.
Unite assistant general
secretary Gail Cartmail said:
“This is an appalling way to
treat these apprentices who
should have become the
backbone of the industry.
To dump them and to de-
stroy their training is an act
of crass stupidity.
“These actions highlight
the government’s total
failure to assist the workers
who have been most affect-
ed by Carillion’s collapse
through no fault of their
own.”
Issue 65 | August 2018
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