Building The Skills Pool

Newcastle Herald

Saturday August 11, 2001

IN less than two years, the Newcastle Master Builders Association (MBA) has taken many young people under its wing.

As part of its group training, it currently employs 127 apprentices and trainees.

That represents one for each year of the existence of the Newcastle MBA, which was established in 1874.

Training has been associated with the Newcastle MBA since 1980.

In that year, together with the Building Workers Industrial Union and the Hunter Development Board, it founded Hunter Group Training.

In 1999, both the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the MBA recognised the need for a building industry-dedicated training scheme.

In response to this need, they established the organisation known as Newcastle MBA Group Training.

That organisation was set up in September 1999 to instigate and assist with ongoing building industry training.

Since then it has grown into MBA Group Training and Personnel, with its current total of 127 apprentices and trainees employed throughout the region.

Six apprenticeships and 11 traineeships have already been completed through the group since September 1999.

Newcastle MBA is now the acknowledged industry training body for apprentices in the area's building and construction industry.

It is the Hunter area's only group training company with in-house support from legal, industrial relations, housing and OH&S training departments.

Current apprenticeships with the MBA group are in the areas of bricklaying, construction carpentry, carpentry and joinery, solid plastering-cement rendering, painting and decorating, wall and floor tiling, electrical, electrotechnology assembly and services, plumbing, gas fitting and drainage, roof tiling and plastering, fibrous and plasterboards.

Traineeships include business (office administration) Certificates II and III, small business operations (level II), furnishing (surface finishing operations) Certificate II, retail operations Certificate II and business access Certificate II.

Newcastle MBA itself has a membership base of more than 900 industry members.