The contract gave experienced workers an 8 percent wage increase over three years and a higher pension.
As apprentices, they learn on the job by watching and listening to experienced workers.
Anyone who wanted to work was doing so, and companies were raiding each other for experienced workers.
At that, most of them were doing about half what the books said an experienced worker could finish in a day.
This makes the company more reluctant to lay off experienced workers, he said.
An experienced worker can make more than $30,000 in base pay, the survey said.
The government will then lose her tax and the local authority a dedicated experienced worker.
But experienced workers are in short supply, and a quick solution does not seem likely.
Companies do not want to lose experienced workers of any kind, if only because replacing them takes time and money.
The answer was that the better paid and more experienced workers were on the Apple production line.