TUC welcomes Cable announcements on apprentice wages and employment contract abuse

Responding to announcements made today (Monday) at the Liberal Democrat Conference by Vince Cable on increasing the minimum wage for apprenticeships and addressing employment contract abuse, the TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“This is the right thing to do for both young workers and the economy and will help encourage more young people into apprenticeships. We also need to crack down on those employers responsible for illegally underpaying more than a quarter of apprentices and must raise the quality of apprenticeships to make them higher skilled.

“The TUC has been calling for a review of bogus self-employment and the abuse of employment contracts for many years. This review is welcome, if long overdue, but it will need teeth to crack down on the widespread abuse of many vulnerable workers and achieve real reform.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

- On Saturday 18 October the TUC is organising Britain Needs a Pay Rise – a national march and rally in London to call for an economic recovery that delivers for everyone, and for fair wages to help end the living standards squeeze. For more information on the campaign go to www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/britain-needs-pay-rise