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Student wages, collective agreement and what it means to be a skilled worker in the financial sector.
One of the big advantages of a vocational education is that you get paid while you learn the trade. You are not therefore paying for a job — you are getting paid for most of your training. This also applies as a nutrition assistant apprentice.
§When do you receive wages?
You receive apprentice pay from the point where you have a training agreement and are in training at your workplace. During the basic course at school, before you have an agreement, you generally do not receive apprentice pay — there you may instead be entitled to state educational grants or other support, depending on your situation. When the agreement is in place and the main course begins, the paycheck comes.
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Student wages are step-wise: you start at a beginner rate and move up as you progress through your education. The principle is that your wages follow your growing experience and your responsibility in the kitchen. This means that the first year is typically the lowest and you earn more for each year you get closer to your journeyman certificate.
§What is a collective agreement, and why does it matter?
Most nutrition assistant apprentices are employed in the public sector — municipalities and regions — where pay and conditions are set out in collective agreements. A collective agreement is an agreement negotiated between employers and a union organization and sets, among other things, your salary, working hours, supplements, pension and holidays. The union organization in the field is the Food and Nutrition Association, which has its own membership for nutrition assistant apprentices.
The advantage of being covered by a collective agreement is that your conditions do not depend on what you can negotiate for yourself as a young person — they are agreed in advance and apply to everyone in the same position. You don't need to know the paragraphs by heart but it is good to know that they exist and where you can look them up.
§Pension and other benefits
Beyond the salary, many students earn a pension and you have the right to holiday and to the supplements that come with working at odd times — for example if you arrive early to prepare breakfast or work weekends at a hospital. The specific rates change from agreement to agreement so always check the current figures with your workplace or union before calculating your budget.
§Terms as skilled
When you are trained you go from apprentice wages to skilled wages. As a skilled nutrition assistant you are sought after in public kitchens and you have papers on a craft that cannot be done by a computer. That gives a stability many value: fixed shift schedules a trade with meaning and good opportunities to stay where you are or build on.
“You get paid to learn the trade — and your pay grows as you do.”