In order to achieve the government’s heat pump targets by 2030, the training period for heating technicians is to be reduced to two years
Because there is a lack of around 60,000 skilled workers in heating construction to implement the federal government’s heat pump plans by 2030, the Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to shorten the training for heating technicians. The heating industry criticizes the fact that trainees trained in this way are quickly left without a job.
Dhe Central Association for Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning (ZVSHK) has rejected proposals to train heating technicians for only two years instead of the previous 3.5 years. “We don’t think that shortening the apprenticeship time is expedient,” said ZVSHK General Manager Helmut Bramann of WELT AM SONNTAG: “A broad-based training is the best guarantee that young people will not be back on the streets at some point.”
The proposal had previously been discussed in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) with vocational training and labor market experts as well as representatives of the heating industry and crafts. The background is the shortage of skilled workers in the so-called heat transition: With the help of a building energy law (GEG), the federal government wants to achieve that around six million heat pumps will be installed in Germany by 2030. The craft claimed that another 60,000 skilled workers are needed for this.
The proposal to shorten the apprenticeship period is based on an expert opinion Berlin-based heating installer Thermondo created for the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovations. In it, the company argued that the productivity of heating installers could be increased tenfold through standardization, digitization and the increased use of low-skilled assembly workers.
More helpers at the expense of training
Accordingly, the training to become a “systems mechanic HVAC” can be shortened to two years. ZVSHK boss Bramann called it “completely absurd” to cut the proven qualified training for more helpers. The side entrants who were trained to do auxiliary work also ran the risk of “standing with nothing at the end of the heat pump wave”.
The IG Metall trade union also rejects a shortened apprenticeship in the field of plumbing, heating and air conditioning. “It’s only a two-year apprenticeship does not solve the skilled labor problem“, says Ralf Kutzner, member of the board of IG Metall: “A narrow-gauge training leads professionally into a dead end.” “Increased additional qualifications are necessary in order to create the energy transition”.
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