Tradies

[grog]

Little rant. Im a tradie, if im late 20 minutes i get revved. Been waiting on a Landscaper now just on 3 months. Booked another to cut tree down, just postponed again second time, another 2 weeks. I cant get staff at work but they keep saying unemployment rate is high. Bottom line is no fucker wants to work. Is this same world over?

[Mick_J]

Apart from not understanding your first sentence, we have the same problem here, kids don't want to work anywhere that's dirty or requires them to actually work, they all want to earn £50k for sitting in a warm air conditioned office playing on a computer.  We have thousands of jobs and thousands of unemployed but no fucker wants to work.  It's not helped by all these dumb twats on "reality TV" earning a fortune for being a complete arsehole.

[Kiwifruit]

The dole is a trade, right ? Must be, they traded work for the dole. The dole pays nearly the same as a lower paid tradie. Throw in a few kids, emergency housing benefit, hardship grant.....let's be honest, they know every trick there is to get every assistance going. They are skilled, they've done their time, they've learned their trade......their trade is being skilled in the art of being a 'beneficiary'. Just to make it easier, many companies now have a 'no jab, no job policy' An employee can just walk out, but it's better to get the boss to fire you then you can take him to court for unjustified dismissal a good payout could see you in a new car. The boss was a prick anyway, he's got plenty.
Businesses here are screaming out for staff.

[Hooli]

The dole must be a trade considering how many sponging scum around here refer to it as wages. Being paid to breed anti-social little scrotes, it's a growth industry unfortunately.

[Irish in Oz]

When I left N.I. in the mid eighties going to the Lucky Country, not much work available here but plenty in Oz. But things have changed since returning a few years ago, I can pick up work easily if I want it and the money offered is OK.

[DP1400]

I absolutely agree with everything you guys have said. In the UK there is lots of work for those who want to do it. Every tradesman I know (across most key trades) are working thier nuts off for very good money - however, their big problem currently is the shortage of many materials.
As I see it (and I make no excuses for being blunt and upsetting folk) the biggest problem in the UK are Universities. The vast majority of kids complete their `normal` schooling, then seem to expect (as though it is their god given right) to avoid getting a real job by `extending` their education by 2/4 yrs living it up in a university somewhere. They then have a need to go on a `Gap Year` and travel the world to get over it all WTF. So, society is losing young capable peolpe from the working pool, the void being around four years per individual. Over a repetetive 4 year cycle you may say, ah, but the effect is then nullified `cause everyone is then available for work as though nothing had happened. Wrong. Because none of them go to Uni to then want to enter the real world as truckers, train drivers, council operatives, farmers etc. etc. (nothing wrong with any of those incidentally!). They want to magically waft into a job on major money, work in a pleasant warm environment with the sense that the world owes them.
As a society, we should have seen this coming 20yrs ago. We didn`t for some reason. Therefore the only solution is to close universities and get kids into apprentiships and doing real work straight from school. Outcome, labour shortage sorted and the real work gets done again!
For the record, two of our kids went to Uni, two didn`t want to. All four work equally hard and have great jobs so are doing well for which we are immensley proud. The thing is though, that neither of the two who attended Uni are in a job which relates to the degrees etc. they achieved!!
Apologies for this little rant to any who may be offended for any reason

[Will14]

I agree with most of the above, the difference here in N.Wales are that the rates of pay are poor, companies still offering minimum wage for most jobs including driving a HGV, pay rates in Wales have always been a bit lower matching the cost of living but some companies have wagons parked in their yards as they can not get drivers, hmm I wonder why

On another note I decided earlier this year to take a few months out after working between 75 & 85 hours per week for the last 25 years, often not taking holidays. It was suggested to me that I should see what benefits I may be entitled to and to my surprise the government paid me £75/week benefit, not something I was proud of but thought why the hell not after putting so much in to the system over the years. After a couple of months I was climbing the walls so accepted a job offer, on telling the government that I no longer required their benefits I was sent a tax demand to pay tax on the benefits received - what a bloody farce!! 

[DP1400]

Just a thought for consideration Will14, is that if you break your employment for any reason and stop paying National Insurance for a period, it`s possible that maximum state pension won`t be received when reaching state retirement age. I believe however, that its possible to make voluntary payments to `make-up` the defecit, if the aforementioned applies

[Hooli]

I agree with a lot of the above too.

I think it was in Phoney bLair's time in charge that 'everyone can go to uni' became a thing, so now we've got a generation who want to be managers but have no experience of anything & wouldn't do a proper job if their life depended on it.

Things have improved a bit but they'll take a while. The modern apprenticeship scheme means people get a proper qualification that is reckonised anywhere & can train for a trade, I found out we do them at work & in my mid 40s I've started a Masters Degree (which is the highest level the scheme offers), to be honest I expect to fail it as I've been out of education so long & don't understand most of what we should do, let alone the subject. But it's free so rude not to try.

[Will14]

@DP1400 thanks for the information, have just checked on the HMRC site and it appears that I have already paid enough NI to qualify for the maximum state pension, although I have another 15 years to wait until I can get it, I certainly don't intend working until I get to 67 though hopefully

Just hope that my private pensions start performing a bit better than they have over the last 18 months

Thanks again

[Will14]

@DP1400 thanks for the information, have just checked on the HMRC site and it appears that I have already paid enough NI to qualify for the maximum state pension, although I have another 15 years to wait until I can get it, I certainly don't intend working until I get to 67 though hopefully

Just hope that my private pensions start performing a bit better than they have over the last 18 months

Thanks again

@Hooli 100% correct there is no age limit on a modern apprentiship & fair play to you for having a go, what subject is the master that you are doing?

Unfortunately the modern apprenticeship is being abused by some companies, as they get an experienced (but not qualified) person on their payroll under the scheme and pay them the apprentice rate of pay which is abysmal while training, in addition there are other financial benefits received by the business from the state for taking on each new apprentice, I was made redundant in 2018 from a plant hire Co and at that point 40% of their 250 (ish) hourly paid operators & ground workers were apprentices and were expected to to do the same work as experienced blokes after 6 weeks basic training but still had 18 months left of their apprenticeship scheme - most left withing the first year 

[VladTepes]

Little rant. Im a tradie, if im late 20 minutes i get revved...

Apart from not understanding your first sentence,

Allow me to translate, at least in Grog's case -

"Little rant" =   
"I'm a tradie" = I am a tradesman, I work hard with my hands for a living and have pride in my work".
"if im late 20 minutes" = if there is some traffic or I needed a longer-than-usual shit before heading to work
"I get revved" = I get my arse kicked by the boss.

Hope that helps

[Kiwifruit]

Sumtym tiz ard unastan Strayan 

[KiwiCol]

Us Kiwi's are lucky in that we hear it enough we know what they're on about, mind you, it's sometimes hard to discern if it's a Pom or an Aussie when they go on about the rugby.  Guess it's cos the whining is so similar. . 

[VladTepes]

Us Kiwi's are lucky in that we hear it enough we know what they're on about, mind you, it's sometimes hard to discern if it's a Pom or an Aussie when they go on about the rugby.  Guess it's cos the whining is so similar. . 

Take your chilly bin and jandals and fuck right off...