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Student wages that increase, collective agreement and what awaits when you are trained.
One of the big questions before choosing vocational education is economics. The good news in the gut technician trade is that you earn money while you learn. Here you get the principles behind trainee pay and employment — without us guessing at specific rates for they are set by the collective agreement and change over time.
§Student wages from the first day of the agreement.
When your training agreement comes into force you receive apprentice wages – also in periods when you are at school and not in the company. This is an important difference from the basic course: during the basic course you can usually apply for state educational grant if you are over 18 while in the main course you are employed and receive wages from your employer.
§Therefore wages rise along the way
The apprentice wages are typically step-wise and increase through the program. The logic is simple: the further you are in the education the more you can contribute at the workplace and that is reflected in the wages. Most collective agreements therefore have several wage levels that follow how far you have gotten. Your age can also play a role — in some agreements there is a difference depending on whether you are under or over 25 years old.
§What is a collective agreement?
A collective agreement is an agreement between employers and the employees' organizations about salary and conditions in a trade. It sets among other things minimum wage allowances working hours vacation and pension. For you it means your conditions are not negotiated alone between you and the boss but rest on an agreement that applies to the entire field.
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- 02Working time and rules for supplements e.g. at odd hours
- 03Vacation and days off
- 04Pension and other benefits
- 05Frameworks for termination and employment
§From apprentice to qualified worker
When you have passed the journeyman exam you are skilled and your terms change. You go from apprentice wages to skilled wages which are higher and you join the company on equal terms with the other skilled workers. Because quite few gut technicians are trained per year the demand for those who have their papers in order is generally good.
§Think terms, not just wages
When you compare options look at the whole picture: work hours quality of training how far you have to the workplace and how the team works. A slightly lower starting wage at a good workplace with solid training can be worth more than the opposite. Wages matter — but the framework around daily life matters too.
“You learn a trade and get paid for it along the way. That's the core idea of apprentice wages.”