Quote from John Freeman on August 3, 2023, 10:20 am

Hello,

in Switzerland to learn trade professions (electrician, hairdresser, etc.) you go through an « apprenticeship ». That is they work 4 days a week in a company most of the time middle to small size and go to courses 1 day a week. They earn about $400 to $500 a month. That means that their parents must help them and host them (minimum cost of living in Switzerland is $2000). They quickly do the same job as their more experienced colleague. So the deal is cheap labor for the company in exchange for learning a profession.

Today the left (rightly so) wanted to increase their salary to $1000 a month (I don’t know what is the fair amount but an increase might seem in order as it was the same salaries 20 years ago).

What did the bosses’ association said:

It’s not up to the state to get into this. It is an infringement on economical freedom. Money should not be in the « first plane » (that is what is looked at as the most important thing).

Of course it’s a manipulation:

1. Yes the state has the right to look into it to protect the rights of these people (vulnerable: difficult to get an apprenticeship, « slaveable »).

2. Economical freedom has limits set by laws. And in liberal societies (which I love) the richer are freer. So it’s the economical freedom of the powerful vs the freedom of the weak.

3. Yeah nah sure you guys do it out of passion and altruism so should they as well. To be totally honest many small companies bosses care about their apprentices. And many of these small companies are dedicated to excellent work out of passion. There are many mentor-mentee relationships which are the bases of this system. But there are good bosses and bad bosses of course. And nobody works for free. So to me this is the biggest and most obvious manipulation. It is guilt tripping: « you’re getting educated by your boss who treats you as a daughter/son. And now you’re talking to me about money? That’s low »