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YOUNG RMT members have vowed to increase efforts to organise workplace apprentices.
Delegates at the union’s annual conference in Manchester voted for the creation of an apprentice officer to oversee the work of organising apprentices in every region.
East Ham delegate and young members advisory committee member Lorna Tooley said: “Apprentices are at high risk of exploitation, bullying and dismissal, as well as low wages and poor conditions.
“We need to fight to improve their conditions as well as to retain these people and keep them in the labour movement.
“If we can get through to workplace apprentices, then we have a high chance of these people becoming active in a union for the rest of their lives.”
Liverpool delegate Michael Stanton told conference about his bad experience as an apprentice. He said: “On my apprenticeship, we only had 15 minutes of discussion from a union on one day of my entire apprenticeship — that’s 15 minutes of union talk in three whole years.
“It was hell at my depot when I was an apprentice, it was absolutely disgusting.
“But all apprentices are just getting told that they are going to be managers. They are getting whispered in the ear — they’re told: ‘If you join a union, you won’t get a promotion.’
“We know that’s a load of crap.
“But we need to get in there early and be much more of a presence as a union, so we can help these workers out.”
