Tradie reveals how bullying almost made him leave his bricklayer apprenticeship in construction
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Why experienced bricklayer warns young people to stay away from apprenticeships: ‘We have grown men who use drugs, drink and drive and who also teach people’
- Only slightly more than half of all Australian students complete their education
- Bricklayer Robert Dunne has told how he almost gave up his job as a 16-year-old
- He wants more formal support for young traders amid the skills shortage
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An experienced bricklayer has revealed how bullying and offering drugs instead of wages caused him to almost give up his apprenticeship.
Robert Dunne of Melbourne, during his first stint on a job as a 16-year-old, said he was told to carpool with another tradie, who would smoke marijuana before driving.
“At lunch we went back to his house and he smoked bongs and I waited for him in the car and then we went back to work,” he said. A current matter.
He said he told his father what was going on and then left that apprenticeship and went back to school.
Research shows that only about 55.7 percent of construction apprentices in Australia complete their education and many leave to look for another job (file image)
He later returned to the trade, completing his apprenticeship for another company in the Mornington Peninsula.
But Mr Dunne said he remained concerned about the arrogant attitude of some in the industry.
‘I wouldn’t do it again. It wouldn’t be something I would encourage young people to do because of the lack of occupational safety,” he said.
“We have primary school teachers who are very regulated and heavily monitored, but we have grown men who use drugs, [and] drive and they also teach people how to build houses,” he said.
TikTok videos show that Mr. Dunne’s problem was not unique with clips of senior tradies hazing their students flooding the platform.
In one video, a tradie sprays his student’s hair with paint, and in another, a student tiling a shower has the water turned on, leaving him wet.
Robert Dunne (pictured) said he almost left the bricklayer business after a negative experience during his first internship
Research data from the National Center for Vocational Education shows that only 55.7 percent of those who start an apprenticeship finish it.
In 2021, only 77,000 students across the country completed their education, the lowest number in more than 20 years.
A McKell Institute report released last month found that bullying and wage theft were the top reasons students left.
The report ‘Work, learn: better support for Victorian learners at work’ found that most were unaware that there was a government regulator for apprenticeships and that complaints to the agency were in the single digits every year.
“We’re in the midst of a skills shortage and yet nearly half of the people who do internships don’t complete their courses,” said Michael Buckland of the McKell Institute.
“We need all the masons we can get, so the fact that people don’t see bricklaying as a viable profession worries us.”