\n<\/p>\n
Re your editorial (The Guardian view on construction workers: the country needs more of them, fast, 13 August), as a bricklayer with decades of experience, I see the skills shortage in the construction industry as the result of years of neglect. The problem is not only attracting new people, but keeping them in the trade once they see the reality of working conditions.<\/p>\n
Most site bricklayers are self-employed subcontractors. We don\u2019t get pensions, holiday pay, or sick pay. If you\u2019re ill or injured, you simply don\u2019t earn. That insecurity pushes many skilled people out of construction entirely.<\/p>\n
On top of that, wages have barely moved in years \u2013 in fact, the rates many bricklayers receive today are lower than four years ago. Large housebuilders often pay good rates to main contractors, but by the time it filters down to the bricklayer, they can end up with far less.<\/p>\n
If the UK is serious about meeting its housing targets, we need more than training schemes. We need to make construction a job you can build a life on \u2013 fair pay directly to the tradespeople, proper\u00a0benefits, and conditions that match the skill and physical demands of the work.<\/p>\n
Until that changes, we\u2019ll keep losing good people faster than we can train them, no matter how much money is thrown at recruitment. Large construction firms routinely depend on multiple levels of subcontracting, involving an ecosystem of small and medium-sized enterprises that source labour through a myriad of different routes. Those who do the work are often unsure of their own employment status. People working alongside each other frequently have very different terms and conditions, or indeed, no written terms and conditions at all. Career paths do exist, but only in sheltered pockets.<\/p>\n The fractured nature of the employment model brings obvious advantages to \u201cemployers\u201d in terms of low overheads. But training is invariably seen as someone else\u2019s problem. Many small firms would much prefer to invest in direct employment and apprenticeships, but such investment isn\u2019t feasible given the competitive dynamics of the marketplace. This is the end point of the industry\u2019s 40-year quest for modernisation. Simple solutions are few and far between. But the first step for policymakers is to recognise the highly fissured nature of the construction employment context. There are plenty of decent tradespeople out there and, of course, some not so good. Yes, we need to bring in more for the future, and I\u2019ve no problem with them having formal qualifications. But that doesn\u2019t make a tradesperson.<\/p>\n I got my City & Guilds in carpentry in 1997. As I understand it, once my Construction Skills Certificate Scheme card runs out, it won\u2019t be renewed unless I make a significant spend to get an NVQ. I\u2019ve been in the trade for over 30 years, and I\u2019ve diverged my skill base significantly past carpentry alone, all learned on the job.<\/p>\n Currently, I have no problem getting work, as I\u2019m fairly adept at most building trades. A rush to have only the formally qualified working on site will be counterproductive. As a self-employed tradesperson, if my work isn\u2019t to standard, I\u00a0cannot work. I\u2019m 51, still fit. If Labour is going to achieve its goals,\u00a0people\u00a0like me are vital. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Re your editorial (The Guardian view on construction workers: the country needs more of them, fast, 13 August), as a bricklayer with decades of experience, I see the skills shortage in the construction industry as the result of years of neglect. The problem is not only attracting new people, but keeping them in the trade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[1512,1449,5154,1545,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-16362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-build","9":"tag-career","10":"tag-construction","11":"tag-industry","12":"tag-life"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Matthew Ord<\/strong>
Peterlee, County Durham<\/em><\/p>\n
Stuart Green<\/strong>
Professor of construction management, University of Reading<\/em><\/p>\n
Mark Stringer<\/strong>
King\u2019s Lynn, Norfolk<\/em><\/p>\n