Thread: Our latest scheme for getting casual Workers

Let us know when it's on as would be very interested to watch.
As to backpackers I used to work at TNT long time ago and the 2 months before Christmas they would hire 40-80+ casuals, usually backpackers and Tongan's. The Tongan's where great even though they all knew/relo's of one of the managers, but the agency backpackers where as you described. One (Irish , who else)backpacker was loading the run next to me, and I could see fluid spilling out the door of his semi, along with a stench(improvement on his but still) he had decided to stand the single layer pallet of car batteries(wrapped in clear plastic so he knew what it was!) on its side, so all the acid had flowed across the floor and out the back of the trailer.

Ean,

Have a look at GenerationOne | End Indigenous Disadvantage - Take Action Now!

They may very well be able to assist in what you are doing -

This is an initiative set up and supported by a number of business leaders such as Andrew and Nicola Forrest, James Packer, Kerry Stokes and Lindsay Fox and others, and is rapidly gaining momentum across a broad range of industries.

I hope it works out, everyone deserves a second chance . Some people just need some one to believe in them . Bob

Sounds like a good idea, mate, using soon to be released prisoners. If ABC do a story on it please let us know.

Originally Posted by bob10

I hope it works out, everyone deserves a second chance . Some people just need some one to believe in them . Bob

I'm with you Bob. The mob I work for took on a contract a while back which was part of a prison upgrade. Part of the deal was that some of the inmates were offered as assistance (cutting the red tape) if required. The supervisor ended up making a concreting crew out of those inmates and the workmanship that those blokes turned out is still spoken of today. The leading hand that looked after them had nothing but praise, "Give them a plan, tools and materials and the rest of the day was easy".

Ean
Well done. I hope all goes well.
When I went through Kununurra in 2005 there were big signs at the orchards asking for workers urgently while, in the town park, there were a lot of locals "lolling" around.
I thought at the time that surely something could be done to benefit both sides of this scenario so it's good to see someone having a shot at it.
Steve

Is there no one on the Dole up there , any dole recipient should be and is obligated to the tax payers to be available and able to do part time work ??? .

Originally Posted by Saitch

Ean
Well done. I hope all goes well.
When I went through Kununurra in 2005 there were big signs at the orchards asking for workers urgently while, in the town park, there were a lot of locals "lolling" around.
I thought at the time that surely something could be done to benefit both sides of this scenario so it's good to see someone having a shot at it.
Steve

A rellie, now retired, used to farm 1100 acres of irrigated black soil on the inner Darling Downs. He broke away from the traditional local habit of grain and livestock and added horticulture to his portfolio. He always had trouble getting harvest labour. The hardened and experienced crews had too much work as everybody's crops came on at much the same time and had to be booked ahead. He tried getting the CES to send local unemployed. A waste of time, he found. Mostly they had never done manual labour or it was years ago, never done field work, and were not hardened to outdoor work in heat, sun, and dirt, didn't have suitable clothing or boots. They would turn up in shorts and thongs, no hat, no water bottle. Many would do a couple of hours and give up and walk off.

In around 1990, the DSS and CES in the fruit growing communities in the irrigation areas tried to push local unemployed into picking work by sending them to farms under threat of losing their benefit if they didn't accept an offer of "suitable work". A policy of UB clients having to be off benefit or have casual earnings within two weeks of start of picking was introduced. This caused much resentment. Many locals would not work for the miserable earnings of a picker. The smart ones suddenly decided it was time to visit rellies in a major city and return after harvest. Basically you can't force people into work they find gruelling, distasteful, or poorly paid except at gunpoint. We are not yet that sort of society. A better way of getting the local layabouts into gainful employment would be to change the payments from an endless government funded allowance to unemployment insurance which like in the USA, would have a finite end date. After date xx/xx/xx payments stop.