Plumbers scrap over shortage of recruits

The plumbing trade has a "desperate" shortage of skilled labour, and industry figures are clashing over who is responsible.

Their wrangling follows a Government move yesterday to sack all nine members of the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Registration Board.

Some plumbers believe the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) has performed poorly and is in need of an overhaul. Others say they stand whole-heartedly behind it.

And the managing director of a separate trade organisation has attacked the ITO system, saying a return to the old ways is needed.

Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen announced yesterday's board sacking. A new board was appointed by Associate Minister of Health Damien O'Connor.

The sacking appears to be a response to the falling number of people coming into the trade, despite $24 million being spent on training over the past six years.

An independent report was the catalyst for Dr Cullen's reaction.

The report, from lawyer Hazel Armstrong, said the relationship between the registration board and the ITO was "dysfunctional".

Dr Cullen said many apprentices had passed the ITO national certificate but failed the board's registration exam.

The former chairman of the sacked board, Terry Wynyard, said public safety was the number one concern, and the issue was one of quality, not quantity.

"There was no way the board could gerrymander pass rates when the ITO's unit standards were substandard," he said.

The managing director of the Design Association of New Zealand, Ralph Hill, said the ITO system, introduced by the Government in the 1990s, was flawed.

"I think the board has been made a scapegoat for the failing of a system," he said. "I can't see the purpose of getting rid of a well-functioning board that is doing good for New Zealand and trying to introduce change."

New Zealand had turned its back on a "perfectly good" system of training apprentices which had worked for at least 60 years, Mr Hill said.

New Zealand tradespeople were on a "downward spiral" in breadth of skill and knowledge.

The average age of skilled technicians was now in the 50s and 60s.

"Look at electricians - in New Zealand the average age is 54, in Australia it's 43."

A system that encouraged complete on-the-job training was not working because apprentices were not being taught by people with appropriate teaching skills, Mr Hill said.

Plumberman business owner Brent Haslam said the ITO gave excellent training, and yesterday's sackings had been "coming for a while".

There had been problems with the ITO, but things were a lot smoother now.

But another plumber, who declined to be named, accused the ITO of being disorganised. Dates for block courses were often changed at the last minute, he said, leaving apprentices and their bosses in the lurch.

Another plumbing business owner, Greg Gonano, said the shortage of skilled labour had prevented his business pursuing growth over recent years.

Callout rates 15 years ago were about $30 an hour, but that had increased to about $65 an hour or more. That was purely driven by demand and supply, he said.

Mr Wynyard said his board inherited an industry already highly critical of the ITO's performance and the standard of training it was administering.

He had no advance warning of the sacking of the board, and the first he heard of it was an announcement by Dr Cullen on the radio.

"I think its an under-handed way they have gone about it. I can only assume the decision was made on the back of Hazel Armstrong's report."

"That report had 30 errors in it and was misleading. I invited Dr Cullen to discuss the report and he sent a letter saying he did not think there was much point in meeting."