Yes David there is a list of skills but somehow these guys get away with it.

579, I may well do this because while this guy set out with the best of intentions, he has clearly been misled and now has to find someone who will pay him trademans wages and train him.

Toni,
Yep it's rife in hospitality, I managed a cafe once where the owners exploited those schemes for the long term unemployed, they'd get subsidised workers, claim the $1000 bonus then sack them when the minimum term was up. It was a nightmare just on the principle of the thing but the worst part was having this two tiered workforce, there were three of us who were full time, experienced and competent and usually between three and five of these young casuals who were for the most part mentally ill or handicapped in some way but not so severely that they qualified for disability.
It was just horrible, some of them were so bad you couldn't let them near the customers but the worst were the kids who'd been born with a good brain but grown up in poverty with little schooling, that was heartbreaking because they'd just be getting up to speed and trying really hard then they'd be laid off.
I lasted a year there and then had a fight with the owner and walked out, it was a truly depressing experience and I vowed I'd never work in hospitality again.

Sadly, since the demise of the CES these employment groups are simply driven by money which is being wasted in the millions by governments simply because a signature on a piece of paper is more important than anything else.

Personally, I wont train a person unless they are willing to succeed and if they are, they are not signed off unless I feel they are competent. They don't have to be excellent, just competent in the roles they are performing because speed and industry knowledge is something that is gained through years of experience.

I consider my self an excellent well skilled butcher, but when I first qualified back in 81 was, although I could do everything required I was only an average butcher. But to qualify a person who is clearly lacking even the basic skills is borderline criminal in my view.

Meat retailing,

http://www.qtis.training.qld.gov.au/Qualification/Details?modelCode=MTM30813&version=0&trainingCatalogNumber=21242

One of the big industrial crimes in Australia is the exploration of young people. Have you ever asked why the majority of employees at your local supermarket remain forever young. Down at my local Wollies , the majority have remained 17 for the last 20 years. Where do they go?
Butch, my oldest sons best mate (they started Kindy together) now in their 30's Best mate was not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to school, in fact he was near the bottom of the class. When they left school BM got an apprenticeship with a small butcher, he hasn't looked back, still works as a butcher and has done well for himself.
p/s I once thought BM would end up in jail, not in a shop.

Greetings Butch.....as you are aware the curriculum for trade apprentices ensures an understanding of the duties and procedures required to accomplish the tasks involved in that particular trade. The practice execution of those tasks is taught by on the job experience during the apprenticeship.

I have heard of similar observations in both the electrical and carpentry trades. As examples consider an electrical trades apprentice who has spent his apprenticeship working for a company that installs commercial electrical equipment to factories. If he leaves that job and works for a contractor that puts in the electrical wires in buildings during construction, he has not got a clue as to how to go about it, but he is still a qualified electrician.

Or the apprentice carpenter who did his time for a company that carried out small handyman level carpentry, ask him to do the roof joists of a new building and he is lost, given he spent his time swinging doors and putting in windows. Butch, I am a hydrologist and the work I have done for the agronomy sector and the work I have done for the mining segment have the same core principals, but the practical execution require hands on experience. Your job is to train the kid, it is not a failing in the apprenticeship curriculum, rather the training to proficiency is ongoing at site.