A union has warned the number of apprentices on construction sites will plummet if the federal government passes laws that make it illegal for unions and companies to sign agreements that specify how many trainees should be hired.
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With youth unemployment in Victoria at a 15-year high, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union says proposed law changes will mean fewer jobs for young people on major city site
In Victoria, the CFMEU bargains with employers to hire one apprentice for every five tradespeople, or 20 per cent of the total workforce.
Other unions also negotiate ratios in their agreements with contractors.
But a building code to be voted on in the Senate - part of a bill designed to reintroduce the union-reviled Australian Building and Construction Commission - would make it unlawful for a collective agreement to specify the numbers and types of workers that have to be employed.
Victorian branch secretary John Setka said the government was more intent on attacking unions than helping young people into trades.
"At the very time we're seeing a shocking decline in the number of apprenticeships, Abbott is enforcing a set of laws that will further reduce the number of apprenticeships available for young Victorians," Mr Setka said.
Jayden Parnis is in the fourth and final year of his apprenticeship and works on a major site in the city centre with a large construction firm.
Mr Parnis left school in year 10 but was able to get a start in the building industry through his father. He knows many young people in his home suburb of Werribee who are unable to find a job.
"They apply for heaps of job and go to Centrelink but you can't get anywhere without experience, and you can't get experience without a job," he said.
Minister for Employment, Eric Abetz, said the union was running a dishonest campaign about the changes to the building code.
There was nothing in the code that banned building companies from hiring apprentices but it prevented unions from imposing a "rigid" ratio of apprentices for every building contractor, Senator Abetz said.
The CFMEU recently released a report that showed that the number of construction industry apprentices had dropped nationally by almost a third in the past four years.
There are now 14.5 apprentices for every 100 tradespeople in the industry in Victoria, the lowest level since 2003.
The average Victorian youth unemployment rate for the year to July 2014 was 13.8 per cent, up from 12.3 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
