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Surely this apprenticeship is not right?

6 replies

drxerox · 02/04/2014 13:55

My 25 year old son is coming to the end of his electrical engineering apprenticeship . He's a good worker (or so it appears to us), constantly working very long hours and weekends, but has been told that he's not putting enough into the job. He's also been told to take on a managerial role (but still having to do his operator's job). The company have not moved him around the factory, to increase his experience. The person who's managerial role he is to take left because of being overworked, and he didn't have to do the operator role as well. The boss seems to be a bully, marching onto the shop floor and swearing at the workers.
I KNOW there there is nothing we can do, but we happen to be temporarily living in my son's house and it is literally breaking my heart to see him coming home, after a 13 hour day, with work he has to do at home. Surely this can't be right? My son is such a hard worker, and puts a positive spin on it, but I think it will break him.
Sorry for sounding hysterical but i would be grateful for any kind words or useful advice someone can give me.

OP posts:
flowery · 02/04/2014 14:03

Is he looking elsewhere?

drxerox · 02/04/2014 14:33

he has to finish his apprenticeship, he feels, which finishes in 6 months.

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littlemrschatterbox · 02/04/2014 21:15

It's close to minimum wage, isn't it?

I was earning £12k when I worked in customer services for a publishing company twenty two years ago. I was 21... Shock

Plenty of rubbish salaries out there at the mo though and they are often asking for graduates which makes it even more shocking.

fascicle · 03/04/2014 09:08

Your son is being treated shabbily. What does he have in writing about his terms and conditions of employment and his apprenticeship training plan? Is there an external contact for his apprenticeship training?

Geoff0409 · 04/04/2014 11:29

Hi drxerox, sorry to hear your son is being treated so badly. I have to admire him sticking at it as I would have snapped by now. I have seen too many of these apprenticeships nowadays working people into the ground. It is part Government funded and companies exploit this to the hilt. I wonder what they would do if he walked out? He will make himself ill if it carries on - and I bet there's either a "fat cat" at the top of the company reaping the reward, or it will be shareholders. Either way it can't carry on. littlemrschatterbox has it bang on, the salaries being offered at the moment are absolutely shocking - we saw one recently which was a graduate job for 15k a year! Unbelievable.

drxerox · 05/04/2014 10:36

The trouble is, we can't interfere, because he's 25. For a start, he would hate it. The other thing is that he is dyslexic, but refuses to ask the company for consideration on this, as he doesn't want to be labelled.

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