Happy anzac day! Whatever that means? Good to have a countrywide public holiday today. The next public holiday will be Foundation Day, recently named by separatists as Western Australia Day and only celebrated in Western Australia.
I really sound like you guys in the eastern states (ex QLD) are in an economic recession. But over here, first home buyers are buying up properties like in a boom.
The western seaboard has always rejected Labor politics, and the idea of creating a separate country, Westralia, surface every now and then during talks.
these industries, although very lucrative and pay king ransoms, aren't willing to hire non-whites workers unless you have some unique skills that they need.
What is wrong with racist banana-benders?
Mining in WA are getting the previously unemployable arbos into the workforce. True, some of them are always late for work or never turned out, usu the men. These are eliminated very quickly.
There is work discrimination in financial industries. I know of this white boss who only employ asians. I asked why, and he said, 60-80 of the time, the whites have work related attitude problems. He has no time for that!
On the other hand, there is this Italian jobs boss who will employ from his own community. Good, they are almost bankrupted by Bankwest over some soured deals and the owner himself is under investigation by ASIC. I think Enron/Worldcom accounting practices are not appreciated here as well.
Len arrived in Australia as a Chinese-Vietnamese refugee when he was three years old. He went on to complete a Mechatronic Engineering degree and a Masters in Finance leading him to a career in mining. Now he is part of an industry that contributes to the lives of thousands of Australians, not just for today but for the future.
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Tradies in the eastern states are not paid as well as here.
Carpenters in UK earns A$35k, USA A$45k but in WA, they earn A$156k. I have problem plugging in the tradies income difference between UK,US and OZ. Otherwise, I will show you the BIG blue-collar salaries here.
WA tradies' pay leads world
Kim Macdonald, The West Australian
Updated April 24, 2012, 2:05 am
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WA is one of the best places in the world to be a tradesman or labourer, with an international comparison showing they earn up to four times more than foreign counterparts.
Wages for tradesmen in the mining and commercial sectors are not too far behind some types of engineers, and well above the salaries paid to teachers and nurses.
WA labourers putting in a 50-hour week can earn $130,000 annually on city commercial projects and mine sites.
While WA's high cost of living chews through much of their wages, a comparison with pay relativities in the US and Britain shows WA puts a premium on trades.
In America and Britain, many tradesmen earn less than teachers and nurses and labourers are paid as little as $30,000 a year.
Ryan Hathrill, director of Robert Walters recruitment, said WA wage rates had been moulded by the lucrative resources sector.
The industry could afford to pay good money to compete for skilled tradesmen, who were in relatively short supply.
"WA is clearly one of the best, if not the best place in the world for a tradesman, where they can earn good coin and spend good coin," Mr Hathrill said.
"The demand for tradesmen is very high because of overseas demand, particularly from China.
"If you consider these workers are working longer hours in remote, dangerous and expensive locations, then it only adds fuel to the wage inflation in this sector."
He said tradesmen often had tougher rosters than white collar professionals in the mining sector, with a longer period between breaks.
The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Marcia Kuhne warned that projects could become uneconomical if wages continued to grow at lofty rates.
The Master Builders Association's Kim Richardson blamed the construction union for boosting wages under the threat of strike action.
"The wages are a reflection of the ability of the construction unions to screw deals out of construction companies in the 1980s, 1990s and early noughties," he said.
"The only way for employers to settle disputes with the construction unions at the time was to pay up and try to buy industrial peace at premium rates."
Construction union boss Mick Buchan said the wage rates were the result of both the structure of the economy and militant unionism.
"We bargain and strive for the best agreements for our members and we are never going to apologise for that," he said.
and the potatoe wogs (dumb irish) !
