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 Return to top of page · Post #: 1 · Written at 9:49:39 AM on 27 December 2021.
Tallar Carl's avatar
 Location: Latham, ACT
 Member since 21 February 2015
 Member #: 1705
 Postcount: 2149

I am going to have a bitch session . I noticed on facebook today one of my friends made the comment "when did they let the foreign workers back in" ( the workers he was refferring to had actually been stranded here because of the pandemic ). This pandemic has given our young a opportunity to grab work , the work is everywhere. Fruitpicking cotton chipping , the hospitality industry are all screaming out for local workers to fill the void left by the lack of foreign workers.
I grew up in a world where you got off your backside and went doorknocking if you had no job. I love going to work everyday.
Over the years I kept hearing the words "oh they come here and take our jobs" Really! How many ozzie cleaners, taxi drivers and bus drivers do you see these days. Foreign Nurses are sought after.
There is now a shortage of Foreign Workers and this is a golden opportunity for young people to start a job and get ahead. I hold my hat out to the ones that have taken advantage.
But to the others I say get off your arse and stop complaining. The world owes you didley squat. Start that lawnmower . Start knocking on doors. Opportunity doesnt knock everyday.

RANT NOT OVER!


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 2 · Written at 8:50:18 PM on 27 December 2021.
Fred Lever's Gravatar
 Location: Toongabbie, NSW
 Member since 19 November 2015
 Member #: 1828
 Postcount: 1245

Second that Carl!
I am near 80 and well and truly over bludgers on the dole not wanting to do "menial" jobs.
Yes I know, the dole does not exist any more they call it "newstart" or something.
How can we be short of 50,000 workers to do cleaning, fruit picking etc??
Oh they might have get out of bed before noon or travel out to the boondocks and actually do something.
Cant have that.
They tell me no body is on the dole now and we have 100% employment of those that can be employed...really?.
We just have a few disadvantaged people who need looking after.
If ever I mention dole bludgers now I get shouted down about peoples "rights" and how hard it is to get on....really some people should have been around when I was young or better still when my parents were young we had NOTHING, no dole, no handouts just find a job so you can eat..
Every bludger I see is well clothed, well fed and waving a $1000 smartphone about and still cant get a job. They should try starving for most of the week, now there is incentive to find work.
I seem to be able to do it from the age of 10 or so, always had some lurk or job on the go, worked 2 to 3 jobs when I was young and paid taxes until I was 70.

There you go.............RANT!
Fred.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 3 · Written at 11:20:42 PM on 27 December 2021.
Marcc's avatar
 Location: Wangaratta, VIC
 Member since 21 February 2009
 Member #: 438
 Postcount: 5239

As I have noted before, having been on the farm all my life and getting a weird array of qualifications. Between long term jobs I would turn my hand to anything, that included working in hospitality as a cleaner, grape pruning & picking. Long term were things like supervisor in a chemical plant. As well as a couple of other stints in Laboratory stuff.

Those positions, especially in the work hire area picking and within the manufacturing industry, I believe gives me a good grounding re labour. I have got Cert IV in Training & Assessment.

My general observation is that there is a major element of Australian's that cannot be called workers. The education system is not training them for work as I kept getting them with zero skills and totally illiterate. So there is bugger all that you can do with that lot. We seem to also be reluctant to train anybody to do anything. Very different when we had trade schools. Having been to one of those, that got me several jobs and also meant in many areas I was not dependant on others.

With a lot with the manual labour like pruning etc. no work ethic, no stamina and of course no idea on how to dress & provision for outdoor work. Many were also as dumb as dog poo and could not get out of there own road. It was only the very few, often educated & dressed by adult relatives working with them and back packers who needed the money, or enjoyed the rural experience that would get of their arses.

Practical example: Ordered in around 60 Australians for late picking estimate 3 days. About 40 turned up. Got about halfway through day one & it rained.

Day two: Lost at least ten and several could not handle it, it was too hard & they expired before morning break.

Day 3: Those who failed to dress appropriately for day 2 Heat & Sun as I predicted were missing plus a few others. By 3pm when we would have been finished and avoiding the heat. There was one younger couple left and around 20 oldies as we had ordered in extras and only got known workers, it took us until around five to finish the job.

So basically all of the young except two, were bloody useless; And you wonder why the horticulturists have labour issues.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 4 · Written at 5:55:21 AM on 28 December 2021.
Tallar Carl's avatar
 Location: Latham, ACT
 Member since 21 February 2015
 Member #: 1705
 Postcount: 2149

The First thing you must have is a work ethic. This is not always provided at school but is provided at home as a good example from good parenting. Any other qualifications comes from the desire to learn ( again good parenting).
Both my parents worked hard and I saw that at a very young age.
The centrelink system to a large degree is to blame as well because gone is the need to work.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 5 · Written at 8:12:47 AM on 28 December 2021.
Tallar Carl's avatar
 Location: Latham, ACT
 Member since 21 February 2015
 Member #: 1705
 Postcount: 2149

Marcc there are 3 licences that can basically get you work at the drop of a hat anywhere in Australia, Taxi , security and forklift licenses.
A smart person that wants to work will realise that a taxi licence will travel with you all over the country. Thats how I moved from Tamworth to Goulburn and then onto the ACT. While driving Taxis in Canberra I got to know a few of the service station managers and literally harrassed them for work. I worked for Woolies Petrol for a few years untill I trained to be a security Guard and pushed to get my higher clearance, Why Did I Do That! Because I plan on working till I'm 75!


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 6 · Written at 11:14:04 AM on 28 December 2021.
Marcc's avatar
 Location: Wangaratta, VIC
 Member since 21 February 2009
 Member #: 438
 Postcount: 5239

With the chemical factory everyone from supervisor, logistics management & the Indians had to have a forklift licence as it was just essential to keep the place moving. As I was farming, tractors were second nature & I have dismantled & put a few of them back together. That includes my own & we are the same age: 70. Next March the "Farm Ute" is 64 and has never been unregistered.

Aside from chemical qualifications, as a textile dyer, which got me into the chemical factory I spent around 25years working in chemistry, & never left farming. Which for pension purposes brands one as "capitalist bourgeoise" and you get a pittance. I did do a Grape related course at Dookie Ag College near here. But it was 20 years from then that I actually set foot in a vineyard to do pruning other than my five vines & misc fruit trees.

Meanwhile there was commercial radio fixing, from 1988 ongoing helping a mate do a research project on Orchids locally. Caring for aged Mother (Dad died 1978) and repairing things like pumps & fences for others (waiting on a lawn tractor with electrical issues: Last time it broke a steering arm made of un-precurium & I ended up making a new one.).

My greatest industrial achievement was the chemical factory. Being of the wrong religious persuasion, I was told to my face that I and any others the same would be pushed out. That was finally achieved & I was the last to go with chemical knowledge. I therefore predicted that as soon as anything went wrong, as is occasionally did; "As there was no one on site with any idea of the chemistry and even less on how to control a runaway it was inevitable that there would be a major incident, or they would blow it up".

Karma prevailed and a whole lot of the vapours of nasty carcinogens wafted over part of the town, even smelt by me here 8Km away. Factory no longer exists.

Really no time to get bored around here.

Marc


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 7 · Written at 6:12:05 AM on 29 December 2021.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

The dole is still there in all its glory, Fred. It has had a succession of politically correct names over the years to help remove the stigma created for many by being 'on the dole' but the payment for many of the nation's lounge lizards is still available to them for as long as they like and the more times the government tries to weed out those who don't want to work the more the bludgers find ways to circumvent it.

I've been looking for a handyman for no less than none months. I've interviewed four people in that time and received a total of about 20 applications. Ten years ago I'd be swamped with 50 applications from the time the ad was placed and would not have to resort to repeatedly re-run the ad. It is a bloody joke that we have an unemployment rate of 5.2% and no-one is applying for jobs, and those that do are sending such poorly formatted and worded resumes that the best place for them is straight in the bin.

Once, many years ago now, I had someone apply for a job that I'd advertised for and his application consisted of two sheets of A4 paper. One had a coloured photocopy of his drivers licence and the other had the words, "I want to apply for this job", written on it. That was it. At the time I had two jobs advertised so I didn't know which one he was seeking and there was absolutely no information about himself of his previous five years that I could use to make an opinion on his suitability.

I know the dole doesn't pay much - I think it is around $280 a week - but I will say now that I was royally pissed off when the Government increased the payment beyond the CPI as a way of stopping Albo from whinging about the issue. All this has done is give some people more encouragement to stay there. As soon as Omicron tapers off, the Work for the Dole scheme should also be brought back without delay. Anyone refusing to show up for that, or those deliberately sending in a lacklustre job application should be kicked off and left to fend for themselves.


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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 8 · Written at 7:35:17 AM on 29 December 2021.
Tallar Carl's avatar
 Location: Latham, ACT
 Member since 21 February 2015
 Member #: 1705
 Postcount: 2149

Brad one thing I found amazing is if you get off your backside and do a TAFE course they take you off the unemployment list and dont prioritise your assistance in finding work. I went to tafe a few years back because I didnt want to waste my time. This pissed me off no end as I felt its a big let down to people who want to try.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 9 · Written at 10:55:22 AM on 29 December 2021.
STC830's Gravatar
 Location: NSW
 Member since 10 June 2010
 Member #: 681
 Postcount: 1253

The AUKUS submarine program has produced a scramble to train the appropriate professional scientists and engineers, offering scholarships. A bit of a change from the total lack of support for the university sector during the Covid crisis. They had doubled support for STEM subjects though before Covid.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-19/defence-staff-studying-nuclear-science-aukus-program/100710264

There is no mention of the technicians and tradies these people will need to do their jobs. Hopefully this will mean a revitalisation of the TAFE system to train them. And they will need to prioritise assistance in finding work - so hopefully things will change as national security will depend on it.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 10 · Written at 8:59:11 PM on 29 December 2021.
Fred Lever's Gravatar
 Location: Toongabbie, NSW
 Member since 19 November 2015
 Member #: 1828
 Postcount: 1245

Thanks Brad, I am a bit out of touch with things.
I have some Labour supporters in my area telling be we need the dole...sorry ...wrong acronym......because their little Jimmy and Annie simply cannot find work! How about fruit picking I ask? But its so far away they say and away from their friends. So we have to get workers from 20,000 miles away instead!!!
In my day if there were farmers who wanted workers they just advertised in the paper and heaps of bods turned up to earn some money, I know because that is what I did one year out of school. Off to the country and pick fruit, great experience for a city boy and got paid for it!
So I see on TV today some farmer is going to plough crops into the ground because he cannot get overseas workers to do it as the unions are warning O/S contacts off the employment schemes. The poor sods will get exploited by the bully farmers!
How about the lazy bludgers on the dole?
I would give them the options, 1/ pick fruit or 2/ nothing!
We need some toughing up from the government, get the bludgers off the couch, get Tafes back and teach trades properly.

We should be making our own trams and ferries not buying discards and seconds from O/S because they are cheap!.
I never saw the bodies crack up on Sydney trams and red rattlers after a year in service!
I know I am a cranky old pensioner that is lost in this modern world, or maybe we want a few cranky pensioners running the country!
Fred.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 11 · Written at 11:14:55 PM on 29 December 2021.
Marcc's avatar
 Location: Wangaratta, VIC
 Member since 21 February 2009
 Member #: 438
 Postcount: 5239

I was going to post this earlier and later in the day but. This site did not want to do that. I now see its decided to behave; I hope?

One of the biggest issues with finding a handy man, is that they are scarce as there is little incentive in the modern generation and we do not teach them any skills in a throw away electronic world.

The Ford dealership, I know from discussion is limited to what they could do with the Zephyr. Its got three pedals and that would bamboozle many as they have only been trained with a car with two pedals & even fire trucks are being made with two pedals as they cannot get volunteers who can work with three. Third is often used as a "jog" pedal, shortening the clutch life substantially.

Of course there is no computer plug to tell them its sick, you actually need an organic brain that is programmed (if possible) to know. Then comes the distributor. Stumped again.

I did Cert IV in TAA . That is often sponsored by an employer. I did it on my own bat and the disability pension was not affected.

History has taught me, that like the latest $80M con. That any relief package, or training package is like a Scorpion. The sting is in the tail and as much money as is possible will be clawed back, or by deceit & hoops: denied. These rural ones traditionally & especially, are to fool city people into thinking the government is looking after the rural people after floods fire & general calamity, when nothing could be further from the truth.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 12 · Written at 6:57:53 AM on 30 December 2021.
Simplex's Gravatar
 Location: Bathurst, NSW
 Member since 7 August 2008
 Member #: 336
 Postcount: 391

I live in a area full of social welfare housing and long term dole bludgers wander aimlessly all over the place. Or rather, to correct myself, turn up in taxis as it is too hard to walk or ride a bicycle.

A lot of drug addiction, a lot of alcoholism and mental issues as a result of the former.

Many are younger people in their 20's and 30's of the age where they could work at fruit picking and similar work but the coush life on the dole is to easy.

One thing though, with covid running rampart and all of the govt benefits having dried up for out of work employees or closed business can't help but wonder how long the dole gravy train can continue.

Think 2022 may be a difficult year.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 13 · Written at 11:10:27 AM on 30 December 2021.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

Marc: I reboot once per week due to a memory leak which I cannot locate. It is probably just corrupt data from the time the site was on Crazy Domains.

One thing Marc mentioned regarding fruit picking was the harsh Aussie sun. It reminded me of a time when I lived in the New England region and my employer had shut down for three weeks over Christmas, as does happen in many industries. Not contented with watching the myriad of garbage our TV stations serve up to us, I found that the former CES was recruiting casuals to do a knock down of the tent cities set up in Tamworth for the Country Music Awards.

Anyway, I signed on the dotted line, showed up on the day wearing a hat and sunscreen and had the tube in my pocket so I could reapply the sunscreen after brekky and lunch. It started out easy enough though ended up being hard yakka as there were several hundred tents to knock down, fold up and pack into their bags. They weren't cheap nylon ones either, they were the heavy canvas tourer tents. We made the job a little easier by setting up teams of different people with each team doing a specific task. We let the older blokes simply walk in, remove the centre pole and place them in piles outside. Another team would align the tent for folding. Another would remove the four pegs holding the tents to the ground. The next would fold the tent and the last team would pack the folded tent into its bag.

After lunch, we rotated the roles so we didn't get bored of doing the same thing.

By about 3PM the job was done. It was a 40+ degree day (105+ on the old scale) and not a cloud in the sky. So we drank plenty of water and just reminded ourselves that we weren't there to skive. The Facebook generation cannot handle that sort of work because they laze about on their phones and computers at every waking moment and most do not have the upper body strength and general fitness to do it. They are carrying this slothfulness into adulthood and the vocation and education systems set up for people of this age do not have anything in their syllabus to make them snap out of it and understand that one must crawl before they can walk.

We were all paid $12.65 per hour for that job. No-one complained and we even walked away from the site with a free can of Coke.

I slept well that night, I will admit but did I get sunstroke? Nope. We all came prepared for the day because that is what adults do.

Fred: Your comments on rolling stock got me thinking. Sydney had more R-class trams than Melbourne currently has in its entire fleet now. Then there was the P-class and O-class toastracks which were often coupled together in the same fashion as the existing CBD-South East trams. The biggest enemy of the R-class was a stinking hot day because they were corridor trams like Melbourne's W-class and the ventilation wouldn't have been as good as the flow-through experienced on the other classes. The biggest enemy of the P-class was a down hill run near Taronga Zoo. I think there were three occasions where a P-class toastrack's brakes failed and the tram ended up in the harbour. There are pictures of at least one of these crashes on the Internet. Aside from that, there were about 1,550 trams that required maintenance just like any other machinery but they just did their thing as they should. I was not around to ride them but I have ridden them at the museum at Loftus.

I did ride plenty of red rattler trains though. I miss the days when on a hot day you could just stand next to the open doors reading the morning paper. The only people that ever fell out of these trains were those who were skylarking or trying to graffiti the cars between stations.


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 14 · Written at 11:44:29 AM on 30 December 2021.
Marcc's avatar
 Location: Wangaratta, VIC
 Member since 21 February 2009
 Member #: 438
 Postcount: 5239

It is a case of take lessons from the oldies. We would be more like Arabs. Heavy weave shirts & pants that you would think to be the reverse of what you needed. Whilst you sweated a lot in a vineyard where there was virtually no protection that actually stopped the rays of the sun burning you. and the same applied to wearing proper work boots and a wide brimmed hat.

Soft drink like Coke and Baseball type hats were a great way to sun stroke & thin scant clothing a way to get fried. Pure water was also a no, no under the heading of Nucleonics. Mainly the lost of electrolytes. You can get water bottles that go in holsters, which are a boon. One day I started with about 9 litres and after donating some ended up with 200ml at days end.

We started around sunup & finished before the furious summer heat just after Midday real time, arrived. An interesting thing was that the young rellies of the oldies & the sensible ones that were able to stay on. Either were dressed like / by the oldies, or bought oldies gear with their first pay, realising, or following the advice of the oldies. These were those with a work ethic and were kept on "the list" guaranteeing them income.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 15 · Written at 9:46:25 PM on 30 December 2021.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

It makes me laugh that so many youngens wear caps instead of hats, thinking that they provide shelter from the sun's direct rays. Unfortunatly the only protection they provide is for what they cover, which is usually the body's natural protection - a mop of hair. Ears are usually the first victims, followed by the rest of the poor wearer's head. A wide bream hat is definitely better. I usually wear a straw hat when I am mowing the lawn because they breathe and don't collect a gallon of sweat inside the top part. Sunscreen is still needed though, as the potentially deadly UVB rays can bounce off other surfaces and still land on one's face. The straw hat also makes a handy helmet when I am mowing under the bottlebrush trees and their low branches.


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
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