Skills shortage gap 'needs plugging'

THE TRADE EDUCATION TEAM: Peter Crosbie, left, Lynn Pollard and Paula Henricksen.PHOTO/JOHN BORREN

There is an increasing need in the Bay for civil construction and related skills training to get people off benefits and back into the workforce.

That's according to Eddie Collins, director and co-founder of Trade Education, a private training organisation.

The company gets the bulk of its funding from the Ministry of Social Development to provide civil construction training for people to work in the roading or transport industries. The course includes getting a class 2 truck licence with R, T, W (roller, track and wheel) endorsements.

"It's a response to government legislation, which has made licensing so much harder for people to get," said Mr Collins, who founded the company with his wife Julie nearly three decades ago.

"Whereas years ago you just did your HT licence and you were okay to drive anything on the road, now you have a graduated system and it's really hard. You can spend thousands of dollars getting up to a class 5 licence."

Mr Collins said there was overall "an absolute shortage" of heavy truck drivers, a complaint echoed by a number of industry observers.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse was recently reported as saying the Government was satisfied class 5 truck drivers did not need to remain on the immediate skills shortage list, because there were efforts underway to train up to class 4 and 5 licences.

But he acknowledged it was still possible for employers to have labour market-tested work visas issued. Mr Collins said that Trade Education's civil construction classes, which were free to clients referred from Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ), could only take them to the first stage of the truck licence. But the first rung was the hardest step and would otherwise be very expensive, he said. The 12-week programme of 9am to 4pm training was aimed at people in their 20s and older.

"For a lot of students our course is the first time they have passed anything in their lives," said Mr Collins. "It's something that's really tangible for our clients."

In addition, the company runs funded 45-week courses for 16 to 19 year olds in construction and allied trades, which result in students getting Building, Construction and Allied Trade Skills level 1 and 2 certificates, and National Certificate in Educational Achievement level 2 qualifications.

Trade Education also has fee-paying pre-trade automotive and carpentry to prepare young people for apprenticeships and MSD-funded workplace training across a range of areas.

Regional manager Lynn Pollard manages the offices in Whakatane, and in Tauranga where Peter Crombie tutors in civil construction and Paula Hendrickson in workplace training.