Full-time work, additional courses and exams, sometimes heavy professional pressure, all when you have barely left compulsory school: many young apprentices complain of stress and exhaustion at work, according to a investigation by the Unia union. Reporting.
The Swiss apprenticeship system is recognized as one of the most efficient in the world. It would even be the recipe for the country’s economic success. “Our so-called dual system is envied throughout the world,” said Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin, in charge of Training.
But for the apprentices, everything is not rosy. For the first time, a survey carried out by the Unia union looked at the quality of training as felt by young people.
Stressed and tired
Félicia Fasel, national secretary for youth at Unia, comments on the results of the survey first on RTS 7:30 p.m.
“Most apprentices, 90%, are stressed at their workplace. And more than half of them, 53.2%, are stressed ‘often’ to ‘always’ at their workplace in a company and on their place of training,” she recalls.
“This has consequences on their life at home: around two thirds of them say they are ‘often’ to ‘always’ exhausted outside of work. And if we do the correlation tests, we see that it is strongly linked to stress”, describes the union secretary.
The union also sought to understand where this stress comes from. “Discrimination and working time play a fairly predominant role” in the origins of this stress, indicates Félicia Fasel.
A third of apprentices dissatisfied
A third of apprentices are also not satisfied with their training. The reason is the lack of vacations for these young people who spend from 13 to 5 weeks per year, but also days of more than 9 hours per day, experiences of racism, mobbing or sexual harassment.
Unia’s investigation presents nearly 1,500 testimonies collected throughout Switzerland. Among them, an apprentice hairdresser in her 3rd year explains: “There is a lot of pressure, very, very hard hours. […] Our day is nine hours long and unfortunately, it’s never really more than nine hours. Very often, we exceed nine hours without time off afterwards, or without being paid more.”
She describes difficult conditions: her boss belittles her and denigrates her work. His monthly salary is 550 francs. And he’s still asked for strange services: to run errands for his boss, to take his boss’s mother somewhere by car, to do everything he doesn’t have time to do, even cleaning. It’s hard to defend yourself when you’re still a teenager.
“He has a hold on him and I have no desire to disappoint him, because he is the one who is shaping my future in this training,” says the young apprentice.
A quarter throws in the towel
According to the Federal Statistical Office, almost one in four apprentices throw in the towel. Apprentices at the bottom of the social hierarchy, sometimes considered lackeys.
And the risk of dropping out is significant during adolescence – a pivotal period when vulnerability is great, and where a bad experience can turn everything upside down.
TV topic: Daniel Bachman and Feriel Mestiri
Web adaptation: Julien Furrer
