Apprentice not getting the pay increases promised by recruiter after finishing the first year. Looking for advise.
I’m an apprentice who finished the first year of the training. Before getting hired, the recruiter told me after completion of the first year I would go from $20 an hour to $27 an hour and upon completion of apprenticeship after two years I would go to $32 an hour, however after my first year, they only gave me a raise to $24 an hour and said this is non-negotiable and has always been the policy of their company for apprentices.
I’m not really sure how to handle this. Part of me wants to put applications into OEM‘s for fse imaging, but I’m unsure if I’m even qualified at this point or of I’d even be considered for a position.
I don’t really want to leave because my Shop and coworkers are awesome and I enjoy the Work. I also feel valued by my coworkers and supervisor. Leaving would also hurt my coworkers as they struggled to find someone before I came on board but I can’t go on with the salary they are now deciding to pay me.
I don’t feel like I’m at an apprentice level anymore but also don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’ve been on my own doing PMs on ESU’s, harmonic scalpels, surgical
Aspirators. I average about 45-60 repairs a month and Last month I did over 400 pms on pumps/pcus. I work hard try to help out when not busy.
Has anyone been in a similar situation to this or have any recommendations on how to handle this? Should I tough it out finish the apprenticeship and run or should I just throw out applications to other companies while in the middle of the apprenticeship?
Thanks in advance.