Skills drive targets Vietnamese community

MELBOURNE: A pilot initiative to train Vietnamese machinists in pattern making is to make inroads into Australia's skills shortage while improving conditions for outworkers.
The initiative is the result of a drive by the Ethical Clothing Trades Council - formed under the ausIRV information services officer Danielle Le said the pilot - operated jointly by government body Industrial Relations Victoria (IRV), the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), its affiliate the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) and RMIT University - comprised 12 outworkers from the Vietnamese community.
"The outworkers will take part in a three-hour session once a week for 12 weeks on pattern making techniques. There is also an English language component with a strong emphasis on technical language.
"The program has focused on Vietnamese because around 85 per cent of outworkers are from that community," she said.
If successful, the pilot would become an ongoing initiative and might be extended to other skills areas including tailoring or computer aided design (CAD).
"The TFIA worked closely with its members to work out what they really want, to ensure that the skills these people are learning are really relevant to industry."
AFC general manager Zoe Edquist said AFC's role would be to assist the trainees in finding work at the end of the program.
"We intend to use our industry contacts to provide work experience and possibly ongoing employment," she said.