Steve Formosa of Sup One Consulting in SA is an independent industry consultant and the second generation of his family to be involved in the collision repair industry. He wrote to Paint and Panel about what he sees is the raw deal apprentices are getting.
He belives in a 'fast tracked' apprenticeship program to address the critical skills shortage to: " get these kids skilled up fast! I almost choked when I looked at the MTA SA webpage and saw the award rates for apprentices. This is part of the reason why these kids don’t want to know about us. They get crap pay and are often treated like cheap general labour by their employers."
"Apprentices could barely afford to eat, let alone maintain a car and purchase tools to earn a living with on these wages. Most unskilled supermarket employees earn more than this and they don’t work nearly as hard." Formosa supplied the following wage comparisons.
Apprentice wages (federal vehicle industry repair, services and retail award rate):
- First Year - $7.33 per hour
- Second Year - $9.60 per hour
- Third Year - $13.10 per hour
- Fourth Year - $15.37 per hour
Apprentice wages are adjusted in accordance with increases of the Federal Vehicle Industry Repair, Services and Retail Award 2002.
Below wage comparison taken from retail industry SA award:
Adult Employees Week wage Hourly wage Casual hourly
Shop Assistant 641.20 16.87 20.24
Shop Assistant selling ladies fashions 645.40 16.98 20.38
Experienced Cosmetician 644.00 16.95 20.34
Experienced Corsetiere 644.00 16.95 20.34
Experienced Furniture and/or Floor Coverings
Sales Assistant 651.30 17.14 20.57
Experienced Builders Hardware Sales
Assistant 651.30 17.14 20.57
Experienced Camera Sales Assistant 649.20 17.08 20.50
Experienced Sportsgoods Sales Assistant 646.40 17.01 20.41
Supermarket Assistant 637.50 16.78 20.14
Supermarket Check-out Operator 641.20 16.87 20.24
Supermarket Check-out Operator
(duties combined with other functions) 639.40 16.83 20.20
"A supermarket Check-out operator earns more than a fourth year panel beater or spray painter. Someone who scans barcodes and changes money earns more than someone that can dismantle, repair and reassemble a state-of-the-art Mercedes or replace a quarter panel on a Mustang!" said Formosa.
"Apprentices from Gen X & Y are our future work force. Like it or not, employers are going to need to deal with it. These kids come from a completely different family background to the conventional panel shop owner and employee. More often than not they are like a different species. They don’t understand what our interpretation of hard work is. The speak another language. Their friends are in cyber space. They come from different family structures than we are used to. We need to get to know our future workforce and we need to adapt to their needs, not the other way around. Fixing the wage issue and getting their training up to date would be a great start.
"I believe that fast tracking their training through specialist repairers would be a great way to address a critical industry problem."