Brave New World

Not just the unqualifieds Ange, plenty of skilled on the ropes. I'm aviation qualified and a certain "aussie" company is certainly getting the kill floor ready for production as we speak.

Overall, i'm definetly not a fan, totally unnecessary and draconian.

My boss CAN'T sack me. I have the best job in the world...but the money isn't that great :)

goodday no1
cant sack me either SLAVES HAVE TO BE SOLD
lmao

steve

hours are great but the money is lowsey ?
pensioners eh?

Not pensioners number 1. Self funded fools. No tax breaks, no subsidies, no discounts etc. And still pay tax on income after all the years of slaving away to get to this stage. Wife still works to pay the bills :))

still young and able enough to work....good onya.....maybe costello can reduce the tax rate to let me save more for my retirement....wonder if my swmbo will keep working till she 70...nah dont want her to really...need to buy the kids some pots and pans so they get the hint to leave first so we can travel OZ a hell of a lot more than we have done

R, doesn't impact directly on me, in fact I probably profit from it. But I have kids and of course am always worried for their future and the future of this country.
And within this future is the future of the 4wd industry. I just hope our kids can get around and enjoy what we've been able to see and experience.
I see that the "average Australian" is around 6 times more wealthy now than 10 years ago.
But I know a heck of a lot of people who'd ask where it all is.

Steve,

Hear, hear, a pox on both their houses. Pity they don't have a performance rating to meet each year like a lot of us poor wage slaves. And to the smarties that will say they have to stand for re-election every few years - BOLLOCKS !!!

I think we have much in common Al.

Mike Harding

Mike,

Hahahahaha just up on one of my many soap boxes :)))))

Regards

Gramps, "a pox on both their houses". What a qaint expression.

"Alas poor Johhnie. I knew him well......and I never liked him much"

Footspere

LOL Footloose. I could'nt remember whether it came from Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream) or something that Orwell wrote. Either way it sums up how I feel about both sides of politics. The minor parties are simply there for the ride and a bloody luxurious one it is too :))))

Gramps, years ago I saw a bumper sticker "Don't vote. It only encourages them !".
How true !
And how can this be a country of free people when you can be fined or put in jail for not excercising your so called democratic right ?

Bah ! Humbug !

(No Santa for me !)

He will sack a good worker because he can get someone else to do the job for less pay. It happened to me just before xmas, before these laws were passed. I was a restaurant manager on a salary that was actually less than what I would have got as a casual on an hourly rate but it gave me a set amount every week. He explained that he couldn't afford me anymore and now employs a young woman I know for $50 less a week because he is an ar$ehole that doesn't care about people, only money. Fortunately another door opened for me. But guess what this pr1ck is saying to his new manager? "I don't think you're doing a
enough hours for the money I'm paying you". I was getting less than the award and she is getting $50 less than that!
In the hospitality industry there are plenty of employers like that and these new laws make them unaccountable for sacking people and paying them whatever they want.

I'm not aware of the circumstances of this case. But lets take a stab at it.
What degree of humidity are they talking about ?
What protective gear did they have to wear ?
What sort of physical activities were they required to undertake ?
What was the degree of temperature change in that area ie max and min ?
Were the majority of the workers working at remote locations where access to showers, air con rest areas etc might not be availiable ?
What is their average number of hours a day and days a week worked under adverse conditions ?

I'm not trying to punt for either side. All I'm hopefully doing is pointing out that there's usually more than just a headline behind the "facts".

If I've got the same thing in mind as Disco, the 'building site' was actually the new rail line from Perth to Mandurah - a distance of what, 70 - 80kms?

Leightons have got themselves into no end of trouble by giving coverage of the labour on this major job to the CMFEU and have been after the Govt to bail them out well before the jobs even a third completed. However I digress.

We had a few warm days and de rules say something about tools down at 38° on the site. Now, it may have been 38° in the middle of the freeway close to the northern end of the job, but 80kms away on the coast at Mandurah it certainly wasn't - probably the 29° Disco mentions. But becaue the CMFEU usually cover building sites like a skyscaper where you can at least see from one side of the site to the other, they call the whole work area one 'site'. But the nonsense of this was that they called the 'site' a bl...dy great long ribbon about 200m wide and 80km long. All pretty much metro area.

In addition around the same time, there was this union rep who kept on telling the workers when they could knock off because of the heat or whatever supposed important reason. Leighton made the point that it is them that make the management decisions about when workers can leave the site, the union rep can make representation on behalf of workers, but is not entitled to send workers off site. So Leighton eventaully sacked the union rep cos he wouldn't pull his head in and they all went on strike for days - a week maybe. Brought the whole thing to a standstill. The sad thing for me was all the characters lining up behind the union leaders, and having to pretend they were all for it. Talk about a lack of democracy and accountability.

Funny too how a union rep ended up acting like he was the employer.
What was that book about changing sides - about pigs dressed as humans and behaving like humans - we had to read it for school; not '1984', help me out here....

Tim

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Glenno, blame the system. Do we directly elect a Prime Minister ? Nope. Do we actually elect a Govt ? Sometimes. The current one didn't win enough votes to get into Govt by itself, it's a coalition ie the voters thought the opposition was better than either individual party. But yet it claims a mandate. I guess we got what we deserved.

I agree and in fact voted against these things wherever I could. But what I really don't get is how come Howard still has the highest approval rating as PM. He's given us all this and taken our guns as well - so what the bloody hell is going on. Should have a dissapproval rating of 100% but then again it depends who you're asking.

Kind regards

Wayne, while the IR laws might not impact on you, I know a few who they will impact severly upon. I speak of those kids who leave school at 15 / 16 to get a job.
I well remember the days when these kids would get to 18 and for some strange reason they instantly disappeared to be replaced by a younger model.
The modern version is subsidising employers to give a kid a start. When the subsidy runs out, its exit time for you boyoh.

Is it any wonder that these kids become disenchanted and cynical, and in some cases turn to other pursuits ?

So called temporary work visas. How low can you go ?

What would happen if the firm you worked for decided to go back to employing you under the conditions of 20 years ago ?

I wonder what the future holds for Australia under the new regime ? I see the laws come in and the stock market rises dramatically. Coincidence or linked ? Are we headed back to the future ?

Well said mate

Naturally enough, I concur.

Regards

me too...how could one not agree?
we need more pollies (both state and fed) like SA's Mr X ...,might not be to everyones liking..(i didnt vote for him as I prefered another less likely winner er that should be loser)...but he really gets up the nose of those main two groups

great minds think alike