Union Tradies

[stockS14]

How many people have died in construction in the last 5 years in Singapore compared to Victoria...?

[Starionturbo]

You tell em troy

[FATGTS-R]

"...but you get no sympathy from me when its tools down and time to go home because the lunch room on site had 14 seats, and on a particular morning 3 guys didnt have a seat to sit on at morning tea."

Great example Roy. My first taste of unions was very similar. I had supplied office workstations to the then new "colonial stadium". It was handover day for the site and everthing was being packed and cleaned up. The only tradesmen actually doing anything were a couple painters touching up and my data guys double checking the workstations. And about fifty others walking around doing jack, literally. I had to go down there as two tiles in the stations were wrong and I needed to swap them over, one minute job.

As it was handover day the lunch room had started to be packed up at about 1.00pm. Some f**king idiot couldnt warm up his food so tools down and "get paid and go to the pub" time.

I have another 50 examples of "rain" stoppages.

Oh, and what about the guys on over a grand a week to operate the lift!!

We got burnt once or twice in the beginning quotiong on union jobs for workstations because of all the crap stoppages.

The way we do it now is work out the price based on a non unionised site and then double it. Then add in the bribes/kickbacks etc to make sure your tender doesnt accidentally land in the shredder if the price is actually half decent.

[silva33]

oh so true!!!!

I could give you hundreds of examples...... i see it every day, at it shits me to tears!!

I love the example of the lift driver hahahahaha even in a public place they require a lift driver, so the general public are using the lifts as usual but the big tough tradies cant push a button to got to up the building???!!!! and they are not alowed to walk more than 4 flights of stairs.... it goes on and on and on.... i fight unions every day about these issues, they are your best friend one day and you get stabbed in the bacvk the next, its just the way it is in Vic...

[saff_cossie]

oh so true!!!!

I could give you hundreds of examples...... i see it every day, at it shits me to tears!!

I love the example of the lift driver hahahahaha even in a public place they require a lift driver, so the general public are using the lifts as usual but the big tough tradies cant push a button to got to up the building???!!!! and they are not alowed to walk more than 4 flights of stairs.... it goes on and on and on.... i fight unions every day about these issues, they are your best friend one day and you get stabbed in the bacvk the next, its just the way it is in Vic...

Never a more accurate line has been written

[stockS14]

no ones answered my question yet

How many people have died in construction in the last 5 years in Singapore compared to Victoria...?

[silva33]

if your implying that we have far less deaths in Victoria, i would have to agree but i dont think that is what we are all upset about.. I am the first one to agree that the union makes the work site a safer place for its memebers, but i think that everyone here is pissed about the crap that goes on behind it all, a lot of the time safety is used as a threat to shut the job down.. or get a 'bbq' for the 'brothers' because they have worked so hard and need a free feed and half a day off with pay to wind into the 2 weeks off over easter... u know exactly what i am talking about... and when the bbq is given which cost the builder thousands on the bigger jobs, the next week they shut the job down! it has happened time and time again...

[Bass Junky]

Talk to AMTIL

www.amtil.com.au

[stockS14]

Only 24 deaths last year which was pretty good for SG

154 deaths over the last 5 years tho

[Bass Junky]

I farkin hate the Unions.

They have ruined construction and manufacturing in this country since bloody Bob Hawke (an ex union boss) came into power.

Wanna hear a bullsh1t union thing...... Guy with a 5 year old truck. One airbag for the driver.

Gets to a site with a 10kph speed limit.

Unions wont let him on site because it doesn't have two airbags.

How the pigsfark does that have anything to do with anything on a site where they will kick you off if you are doing more than 10kph anyway?

So in order to complete his contract, he had to go out and buy a new truck with dual airbags. HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A SECOND PERSON RIDING IN THE TRUCK.

It's bloody ridiculous. The only thing unions are good for is ruining things, getting money from their members and bullying companies.

You look at the amount of young builders and contractors who aren't union members. It used to be that 75% of construction workers had their tickets. Now it's more like 30%. The time of the all powerful union is at its end.

BRING ON WORKPLACE REFORM

BASS OUT

[Bass Junky]

And another thing.

You look at Chinese imports.

The quality is fine, I've been there. I know.

The reason that they are so cheap, is not because they don't pay their workers much, it's becuase the cost of living is so low.

Over there, they get paid plently to maintain their standards of comfortable living. It just so happens that they also house and feed their staff in apartment blocks on site during the week, and on the weekends they go home to their families.

Same with India. Wages aren't low because people are living in slums, it's becuase the cost of living is low.

What does that have to do with unions in Australia?

A little bit of simple economics......

Inflation. People always pushing for higher wages and less work creates more money to buy things. More money to buy things = higher prices = inflation. Inflation makes the unions push for more wages. More wages = more money to buy things at inflated prices.

On it goes until the Government raises interest rates to combat inflation, and the country slows down again.

Therefore, cost of living is Austalia is high.

Pretty soon, nothing wll get build here because it's too expensive.

Look at Qantas maintenance. They obviously get paid too much. Qantas can't make returns to its shareholders so it's looking at outsourcing it's maintenence to China.

Union doesn't like it, but the union probably caused it.

They can raise wages all they like until a company goes under.

It's farked.

[stockS14]

Only 24 deaths last year which was pretty good for SG

154 deaths over the last 5 years tho

also to add to that Victoria went for 14 months DEATH FREE in the Construction industry until yesterday when "A man aged in his late fifties died yesterday (wednesday) at Pakenham when a concrete slab toppled and hit him on a building site.

It was Victoria's first work-related death in the construction industry in 14 months"

RIP

Edited March 9, 2006 by stockS14

[Bass Junky]

How many deaths in Australia last year and the last five years?

[Bass Junky]

How much does that have to do with rain? None.

How much does that hae to do with seats in a lunch room? None.

How much does that have to do with kickbacks to the union? None.

How much does it have to do with Laws about safety? Lots.

[stockS14]

SG population is at about 4.5mil victoria about 5mil

SG construction deaths 154 victoria less than 15

safety and the union and the rain and being an electricain is all relevent. water and electricity don't mix. if my feet/shoes are wet and i have to do electrical work I DON"T

Edited March 9, 2006 by stockS14

[Roy]

SG population is at about 4.5mil victoria about 5mil

SG construction deaths 154 victoria less than 15

safety and the union and the rain and being an electricain is all relevent. water and electricity don't mix. if my feet/shoes are wet and i have to do electrical work I DON"T

No doubt there are legitimate causes for alarm etc. But i have two questions which im curious to knwo the answers to.

1. How many more deaths are there on non Union sites each year Aus wide?

2. I have a question, why does Singapore have more fatalities then Vic/Aus? Do you know the reasons why?

Why mention Singapore. LOL, try Indonesia, i have worked 12 months in Indo, but only about 8 weeks in Singas....the reasons probably arent why you think...or they may be

Im not anti union, as such. Im anti stupidity.

[justin911]

this union thing sounds cool..

where do i like signup ????

[Roy]

LOL...yeh i have convinced myself.

But its not all roses. I know of instanced where ppl have not wanted to strike but were given no choice. As a result of the striking the persom was nto on full pay, which made his personal circumstances very difficult...so its by all means take take take

[SLYSX]

Aghh i love union stories there funny shit,

One day a family friend who is a labourer, there was no cups in on the site so they stopped it for 3hrs, Fair enough no cups takes like 10min to down to the super market and buy cups which only takes 1 person, they shut down the whole site for 3 f**kIN HOURS.

ANother was the union rep rang my old man and goes what time are bring down the beers and he goes what beer? The union guy goes the beer for our BBQ where having here, Old man told him to go fck him self. They ahve BBQ';s everyweek and the except the companies to foot the bill for food and beer.

Another was on one of our recent sites the SS and i think head UNion rep of the site, had cause soo much head aches and stopped sooo much work that the site was 3months behind, but they couldnt fire him cause the Union would arch up and close the site, so they gave him the job of just walking around the site, he got paid to do nothing for the next 4 months.

Not all people in the unions are bad but alot of seniors are shocking, Another example the big union march awhile ago, i know of 6-7 SS and and site mangers that skipped the march and went to the pub and got pissed. Some representative group eh?

[silva33]

It is illegal in vic to refuse a non union person work on a construction... How may do you see though on a unionised site????

ZERO!!!!

If they see a non signed up tradesman on site they all pick up their handbags and sit in the shed until the non union worker is refused work.

Deaths in the construction industy has ZERO to do with what we have been talking about... I have just completed a 6 day OH&S course, and guess what, the union wasnt mentioned.. but 'Work Safe' was a hell of a lot..

Unions do stuff all but use safety as ammo to cost builders money... That is the only reason they make the place safer, because they wont even let workers go to the toliet without a 'spotter' or someone waiting at the toilet seat to wipe them after they are finished because if the arse whipper wasnt there the worker might 'strain' his back!

If someone were to die on my building site i will be the one taken to court, not the union... where is the union now then thousands of people have lost their jobs becuase the cost of construction is too high??

Its all starting to backfire, i have companies begging me for work, and there is nothing i can to about it, i look after the people that have looked after me.

Ex shop stupids, have asked me for work... i say... incorrect! find another shoulder to cry on, they had their fun screwing the builder to try and 'slow' the job down to keep their memebers employed for longer. I have no simpathy for them now that they are home scratching their nuts...

Stiff....