Vic: 210 apprentices dumped as union scheme collapses

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2001
Vic: 210 apprentices dumped as union scheme collapses

More than 200 Victorian building apprentices will rally outside the Construction, Forestry,
Mining and Energy Union offices in Melbourne today at 11am (AEST) to protest the collapse
of a union training scheme.

They'll then march on the offices of the Master Builders Association in a bid to pressure
the employers' training scheme into adopting them.

The CFMEU closed the doors on its Building Industry Group Scheme last week, placing
it in the hands of administrators Lowe Lippmann.

The statewide scheme sank into the financial doldrums after alleged mismanagement and
double-dipping that resulted in fraud charges against a former general manager earlier
this year.

The MBA says they may be able to help some of the apprentices, but taking on all 220
will treble its numbers and put its scheme at risk.

If no scheme positions are found for the former BIGS apprentices the CFMEU says it
may take industrial action.

The apprentices were told yesterday not to return to work.

AAP RTV jmw/clr/hn/wz/pc/alt

KEYWORD: APPRENTICES (MELBOURNE)

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