The ETU has been in the news talking about AI Data centres. Currently, around 10% of ETU members are working on data centres – a number that used to be zero. Data centres are coming, and they provide a lot of opportunities for our members. But they also have a responsibility to the electrical industry, to train up the next generation. The policy settings need to be right.
We currently are experiencing a significant shortage of electricians in Australia, a shortage that has existed since 1981. The most recent Powering Skills Organisation report shows that that shortage is only going to get worse with data centres, leaving us short of around 70,000 licensed electricians by 2030.
There is no shortage of people trying to get apprenticeships and get into the trade. As ETU Secretary Michael Wright has said, we are seeing around 600 applicants for every position. Young people want steady and rewarding careers in the electrical trades, but we don’t have enough apprenticeships open for the amount of people that we have in our trade, nor is there enough capacity in our training system.
This is where Data Centres can be part of the solution.
If data centres were required to take on a quota of apprentices in their build and pay a levy to expand training capacity so that apprentices don’t have to wait over a year to start classroom training, this would pay a massive way forward into fixing the problem.
As an emerging industry, Data Centres currently are hiring from a pool of existing licensed electricians, siphoning skilled workers away from national priorities such as infrastructure, energy and housing. If they don’t start training up and adding to the pool of talent, they are going to make the shortages increasingly worse.
“Ultimately data centres will get their workforce, the Olympics will get their workforce – they are the biggest players. We think they should contribute to the solutions to housing and energy by training electrical workers, rather than just looking after themselves and making our other problems worse.”
Michael Wright