The United Services Union has welcomed the NSW Government’s announcement of a $252 million injection for the state’s 128 local councils to employ 1,300 apprentices and trainees to fill gaping skills shortages.
United Services Union General Secretary, Graeme Kelly OAM says the funding boost was desperately needed.
“Over 1,000 young people across NSW will soon start their first job thanks to this scheme, and in the bush that’s especially valuable as it means they’ll stay put rather than move to our swollen cities looking for work or training opportunities,” said Mr Kelly.
“You can’t have ‘rhyme time’ at the local library, or a nice clean pool to swim in in summer or freshly mowed ovals on the weekend unless you have highly skilled, hard-working council workers providing these front line services seven days a week.
“The Minns government didn’t create this skills crisis, but they’ve rolled up their sleeves and fixed it.
“The previous government wasn’t listening when councils from Armidale to Albury were crying out about skills shortages and their aging workforce, to their credit Chris Minns and Ron Hoenig have heard them and taken decisive action,” he said.