Apprentices of minors forced to work, a necessity during the epidemic?

• On March 16, apprenticeship training centers closed like all schools and universities.
• On the other hand, apprentices, even minors, continue to work in their company despite confinement.
• Parents are worried about this situation.

No containment for them. On March 16, the government ordered the closure of all schools and universities to cope with the Covid-19 epidemic. The training centers for apprentices (CFA) were also concerned. Except that, if the courses were suspended, this was not the case with the employment contract.

Out of the 500,000 apprentices in France, a good number of teenagers must thus work in their company to continue their apprenticeship course. No contract suspension for employees who are often minors and who receive around 500 euros per month. A situation more or less well experienced by the families concerned, as various witnesses tell at 20 Minutes .

"How can you learn a trade under these conditions? "

"I have to be told how my son's work is essential for the survival of the nation," says Frédéric. If our minor apprentices are so essential to the proper functioning of their businesses, what are we waiting for to pay them like real employees? »Aged 16, his child has to go to work in a butcher's shop in the English Channel every day.

Like others, Frédéric believes that the learning conditions are not met if we respect the barrier gestures and the precautionary measures. "How can you learn a trade under these conditions? Requested on the subject, the Ministry of Labor did not follow up.

A measure requested to keep minor apprentices at home. https://t.co/l7MbTdlXRn

It is simply indicated, on the ministerial site, that "if the CFA does not set up distance courses, the apprentice goes to business, the training time in CFA will be recovered over other periods initially planned in business. Clearly, he is an employee like any other.

"A science fiction atmosphere"

However, distance courses - which could exempt the apprentice from a stay with the employer - exist. Contacted, the Normandy region ensures providing distance training kits via the Internet, even if its “learning” competence has disappeared since January.

Other parents are just as critical. Mother of a 17-year-old apprentice in metalwork in the North, Sabine says that "the employer offered to do what he wanted". "But it's not really a choice," she laments. A refusal would rock his year. "

Benjamin, an apprentice pastry chef in Bailleul, still in the North, sees things more calmly. At 16, he leaves to work on a scooter every morning "in a science fiction atmosphere". "What has to happen will happen, but I'm not afraid and all precautions are taken at work," he admits. I was coming out of sick leave and wanted to work again. To remain without doing anything is impossible for me ”.

Non-derogatory trips

Ditto for Thibaut, 17, also an apprentice pastry chef, but in Essonne, who seems to "live very well" this obligation to go to work, according to his mother. "We are not very reassured, but the company has made the necessary arrangements," says Aurore. The work plans have been set up, it is a small structure, it does not mix with many people and the apprentices no longer have access to the shop. "

"His friends saw their business shut down, he is happy to continue," she says. At least, time passes more quickly for him and as he is passionate about his job… ”Aurore explains therefore to take her by car each morning. At the risk of being verbalized.

Because transporting your child to work can effectively be worth a fine. "The gendarmes confirmed it to me when I called them," says Sabine. So our son takes public transport, metro and train, with all the additional risks that that implies. It also makes his boss moan that he is afraid that he will bring the virus back to the company. "

"Obviously, we are worried"

She also admits to being a little scared. "Obviously, we are worried. I myself work in a hospital environment and the extent of the damage is not taken into account, ”worries the mother.

"At a time when we are told that confinement must be respected, thousands of families are forced to break the confinement to transport their children to the workplace," complains Frédéric. And we take the risk of introducing the virus into their homes, which makes their confinement unnecessary. ”The latter alerted some parliamentarians. In vain.

And today, we know that adolescents are not spared from the Covid-19: a 16-year-old girl died in Ile-de-France, on March 26, then a 12-year-old girl in Belgium and a boy aged 13 in England, March 31.

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