Thread: help needed to save our manufacturing.

Not interested in your figures Frantic, not at all.
I am simply saying that FIFTEEN PERCENT over three years for people who are already MASSIVELY overpaid relative to most other workers is RIDICULOUS, & is certainly not going to help Aussie,.....or mate, don't you realize that anyone that wants to start new "manufacturing" & wants to build something of a substantial nature, is going to have to pay FIFTEEN percent more than what are already ridiculously high wages,...and you don't think this will adversely affect any attempts at starting a new industry???....Yeah right.
I have told you that I am sympathetic to your position, but if you wish to have any credibility at all, to admitting to what is proper, you should at least have an understanding for what I am trying to tell you.
Pickles.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

Not interested in your figures Frantic, not at all.
I am simply saying that FIFTEEN PERCENT over three years for people who are already MASSIVELY overpaid relative to most other workers is RIDICULOUS, & is certainly not going to help Aussie,.....or mate, don't you realize that anyone that wants to start new "manufacturing" & wants to build something of a substantial nature, is going to have to pay FIFTEEN percent more than what are already ridiculously high wages,...and you don't think this will adversely affect any attempts at starting a new industry???....Yeah right.
I have told you that I am sympathetic to your position, but if you wish to have any credibility at all, to admitting to what is proper, you should at least have an understanding for what I am trying to tell you.
Pickles.

The problem pickles, your just TELLING us your opinion that is correct, according to you, regardless of any actual fact.
Heres a simple FACT that you will probably ignore but could absorb and think?
Stevedore Salary (Australia)
The average stevedore is on $89k, about 20% more than a fulltime avg aussie on $74k yet their doing 24/7 on call shiftwork!
Yes some make lots more, some half that, but like any job,to make the extra $$$$ they live there for the overtime.
What you "telling" us is that any union negotiated /shift worker/ high danger/ short term job pay rates/wages are all to high, yet in reality they are a tiny part of the cost in large scale plants that use a lot of technology and equipment. Not shoe/clothing manufacturers as they where 50-70% labor cost
To repeat, payroll for steel is between 2-10% depending upon level of processing, the USA pays similar AVG wages to its steel workers ,yet has just doubled the tariffs on Chinese dumped steel to over 520% along with their 50% govt project mandate from 1929!
Meanwhile we just introduced a "up to" 30% tariff
So TELL us which MANUFACTURER will be staffing their entire plant using the MUA?
Hang on I'd love to CEO a manufacturing plant where I can give myself 3-20 times the % pay increase of any employee. Have a starting wage 25x the national avg. and a bonus of 125% over that wage. Why I could even get a bonus when my company is losing money!
It's called "lead by example". This means if you think your employees are asking to much , don't bury yourself in cash!

I am one of those greedy selfish MUA types Pickles.
My gross Pay is $3,124.08 + 9% Super Per fortnight. My Job is highly skilled, has a high level of responsibility, is carried out all hours of the day in all weather and is Highly dangerous. I work a seven week roster: 2 weeks on 1 week off 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Each 2 week on period consists of 7 days 0300 to 1500 and 7 days 1500 to 0300.
Tell me how I have compromised Australia's ability to compete. Tell me I don't deserve what I earn.
Then:IT'S TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!Tell us what you earn, how you earn it and why you deserve it more than me.

And I thought I was doing alright on $ 19 per hour. Think maybe I won't push the company to reimburse me for the unpaid hours I put in each week. Don't wish to deny upper management their quarterly bonus's

its all relative though. i pull just over 50 per hour and i'm not paid what im worth. i dont work in manufacturing, i work in services. i worked hard to make sure im highly skilled. i know one day my job will be sent overseas to someone with less skills but also with less pay.

Originally Posted by Eevo

its all relative though. i pull just over 50 per hour and i'm not paid what im worth. i dont work in manufacturing, i work in services. i worked hard to make sure im highly skilled. i know one day my job will be sent overseas to someone with less skills but also with less pay.

I earn less per hour than eevo, but more per year. Basically with a fair bit of overtime, weekends, public holidays and night shifts 24/7/365 we've had people in our department earn up to 40% more.
Their also divorced, in 2nd or 3 rd marriages.
We are highly skilled and highly physical and mentally draining doing a wide variety of work, doing high risk work where a simple mistake in timing can cost thousands to million dollars plus and/or another persons life! Imagine taking a grab the size of a semi, weighing 29ton ,empty,swinging it of 4 ropes at high speed and getting it to land exactly where you want, 40-60plus times per hour. Then sometimes you can't see it and its experience and guesswork that stops you damaging the ship or the grab. Other times we will close the grab and walk it in to areas to speed up discharge of cargo.
We are called redskins because of the dust that coats us after machining and trimming a ships hatch.
We work in all weather and wind, 60 kph pouring rain freezing cold, not cocooned in an office complaining about getting lunch or to the car park. We also assist with maintenance and do the ropes when damaged as well as drive cranes, end loaders bobcats, forklifts, excavators,. It is a very complex and at times hard job that takes 3-4 years to just become competent , not fully skilled. Details like how to reeve the different grabs or change ropes and other tasks that are done occasionally take a long time to get full understanding.
In the past 6 months there have several close calls which could have resulted in a redskin or ships crew members death.

First of all, I ain't "Telling" anyone anything,,,,simply my opinion.
Facts are facts,...I say that $200K P.A. for a worker on a building site, as documented in the Press (not me) with all the other "benefits" is excessive, and will not help Aussie to "compete".That is what I am saying, it is EXCESSIVE.
There would be many on here working for wages,....what do you guys think? What do you make?
Me?..I worked in the Finance Industry before I retired, nothing flash, just ordinary middle management, a lot of the time involved in Motor Vehicle Dealer financing,...usually in at work 7.00am, back home usually by 7.00/7.30 sometimes later. Some think that bankers work 40 hrs/week,....yeah right,....try 50/55 (and NO overtime,....doesn't matter what hours you worked, you got the same dollars), sometimes more.
I remember during John Howard's time, a couple of my friends were contract plasterers, they worked on big city projects, they voted Labor, & always had a "go" (all good stuff!!) at me, always talking about their benefits, telling me about the number of days a year they had to work, after holidays, rdo's etc etc. Anyway, they delighted in telling me that on a site they were at, there was one peson who opened the gates in the morning, kept the lunch room clean, and He was on $100+(& that was A LONG TIME AGO!!), which even they thought was ridiculous. Ya've all heard this stuff, because it goes on everywhere. Incidentally, both these guys now have their own business, and have just commenced their first small scale property development (bought a house, knocked it down & building 3 units on site) & guess what, they now vote Coalition!!
All good, IMHO, Pickles.

Same old mantra, nothing new, nothing to back it up, just a lot of old Shock Jock style Bollocks, gleaned from fact free propaganda rags. I've had enough.