At 40 and no home

and; the work conditions can be awful...my guy used to work at Kmart auto for 5 years...the stories he has told me would make your hair curl.

Most decent mechanics earn in the circa $20 per hour range...above Award of course; but still pretty crap. See my previous post; I think the industry is not in a good place.

My guy earns $25 because he can run the place and do everything required - he is effectively a Manager, and gets paid at the rates those guys tend to earn (plus he gets to use my work ute for free).

Plus, he has me as a fabulous Boss!!!

 

All true, I'm always shocked how low the wages are in the car trade. Compare it to the building game, why as a young person would you bother doing an apprenticeship as a mechanic if you could spend the same time doing an electrical or plumbing apprenticeship and earn triple. You could even skip doing an apprenticeship, become a labourer and earn double anyway.

 

I don't think anyone is judging folks for choosing lifestyle over sacrificing it for property....

All of us here are judging them on their attitude of whining because they say they can't afford it or other folks who have it "were lucky" etc while pursuing the fabulous lifestyle.

I don't regard myself as lucky; I got off my @rse and knuckled down so I could afford it....you make your own luck.

That is the difference...the attitude; being a victim and whining, but not taking the necessary steps to cut it back so as to be able to get on the ladder...that's why these folks get slammed in these threads

 

Don't automatically assume it will be "easy later".....

Sometimes life can turn around and slap you in the face pretty hard....personal experience.

Work to live; keep the balance.

 

Our butcher closed down and move up bush for the same reason - his casual sales staff earned more on Saturdays than the qualified butcher (who starts hours earlier to prepare & finishes up later with clean up).

Huge discrepancy between wages and charge-out rates and never been able to get to the bottom of it. If wages are say $25/hr, super 9.5%, 4 wks holidays, 11 pub holidays, 10 sick days, carers leave, paid parental leave etc. What days are left? About 44 weeks to pay wages, contribute to overhead recovery and make a dismal profit.

 

Probably a topic for another thread, but yes;

Folks don't understand what the overheads truly are; a wage is just the beginning of the Staff cost. Super is 10.0% currently, by the way; and set to go up to 10.5% on July 1, I believe. My Worksafe premium for just us two is over $4k per year....and I haven't made a claim ever.

And; with Staff costs; as you described above; in many cases - you also need to replace that cost of Staff with another Staff if you want to put through the same volume of work - so the costs almost double on all those days (except for Pub Hols if you are closed). Many workshops can't simply replace a Staff member off work - it is next to impossible to find "agency" or casual Staff at short notice in this industry - so the workshop simply takes on less work, or possibly cancels it, or rebooks it if the Staff calls in sick on that day and it looks as if the Customer might not get their car back on that day due to too much work and not enough Staff to complete it.

Our charge-out rate at our workshop is $110 per hour...and folks remark how expensive it is (try using a Lawyer for 1 hour and see what they charge, or a Dentist, or a Doctor). Small one-man mechanic shops with no Staff often charge approx $90 per hour depending on their locations...but it's not $90 in their pocket by any stretch of the imagination.

Dealerships charge at least $150 per hour, and places like Mercedes and BMW are well over $200 per hour in many cases.

 

I have done quite a few things, one is in the auto area, but there is plenty of poor paying jobs.

I am in one poor paying job now, with ridiculous hrs (and then you have to do lot extra to make up), completely ruins social life pretty much.

What I do not like, is it is the LOW PAID who have the most pressure applied to take even lower and to drop rates etc.

As someone who also has run businesses and had staff, yes, there are a lot of extras, staff are a headache, but this push to lower low paid staff and take penalties etc is just miserly, mean and like taking crutches from those with broken legs but expecting them to still walk around.

If a business cannot make money with low paid staff, then it needs to not operate on those days, or decide to just provide a service/convenience for customers, or close it's doors, pushing down the low paid's wages and penalties is just not on, it is a total insult.

 

is this referring to the proposal to cut penalty rates on Sundays?

 

Would it not hurt such employees further if businesses simply did not open on such days? Getting paid a reduced rate is better than the business not opening and the staff getting $0.

We are all in control of our own destiny. If we don't like the conditions and pay look for work in another industry or find another way to supplement your income.

One thing is for sure. Laws will always change and we have virtually no control over the laws that parliament pass. The ones that adapt the quickest win!

 

It is to the concerted push for all rates and conditions that has been pushed for years.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for business, but there are social responsibilities to and fairness issues, some things are just not right.

 

No, because businesses use this as an excuse, businesses that are clearly profitable do it and push for it, unless you try working for many of these people you would not know what it is like, I know, and I have also been on very good money and also had own businesses.

 

The push was to reduce penalty rates was for Sunday only - and to bring it back into line with Saturday penalty rates...not cut it out completely.

The reason for this is because many businesses were opting to close on Sundays due the the extra penalty applied to that day. ..1.5 hrs for Saturday....2.5 hrs for Sunday.

So, as a result; many Staff were earning no money at all on a Sunday.

By reducing the rate back to 1.5 hrs, the Businesses would then deem it worthwhile to open on Sunday and provide employment for Staff that were receiving none.

Unfortunately; the Business community (and the pizz-weak Mal Turnbull Liberals) did not prosecute this case to the Public at all.

Instead; all we have seen is Labor and media argument that all these low-income workers are being reamed...which is not the case.

Another tack; a reduced penalty rate can also mean that instead of employing 3 Staff on Sunday, they might be able to employ 4 or 5.

Or; the Owner might simply pocket the extra profits...the joy of owning your own business, I guess.

 

Sundays are no longer sacrosanct, as a society we no longer attend church on Sunday so there is no good reason to keep an outdated penalty system in place - many only work weekends to get the rates on offer without having to sacrifice life style on weekdays ie 2 weekdays or a Sunday to earn the same amount. If you'd already worked 35 hours in the week, then you get penalties not just because you 'gave up your Sunday'. Geez, I'd even give up working some of my other days if someone was stupid enough to pay me double.

For business owners, they need to double their sales to justify opening, thus more often than not doesn't happen.

 

But only for certain workers. The proposed cut is for waiters and shop assistants etc I believe. While a Nurse, cop, et al is clearly more valuable in the labour market why is one's Sunday worth more penalty rates than another?

 

@Ed Barton - no. They should be on permanent shift allowance to allow flexibility. If they aren't prepared to work rotating shifts to cover graveyard shifts or weekend, the basic rate for their duties should be applied.

 

as a nurse, my wife earns 1.5 hrs on a Sunday...I don't know about cops or others.

The other difference is nurses and cops are needed 24/7, while cafes etc are optional hours at the choice of the owner....no profit; no open.

With nurses; in Private hospitals it is usually a reduced Staff on weekends as much as they can get away with to reduce costs, and most of the Staff are the permanent ones - not the casual or agency variety.

In Public Hospitals; they are taxpayer funded so they Staff them anyway, regardless.

 

Because shop assistants and café staff aren't unionised, whereas ambos and nurses are. Try asking nurses and ambos to take a pay cut.

 

retail shop assistants award - Google Search

I guess they could, but many might not bother to seek weekend work...that would be disastrous for the health care and first responder services which we all need. ...unlike a smashed avo and latte.

Nurses get paid the same penalty rates on Sat and Sun.

 

There would certainly be some businesses that use this an "excuse" just as certain employees seek to take advantage from penalty rates.

The notion of receiving penalty rates for weekend work is quite a dated concept as we head into an "always on", agile economy.

I like to focus on things that I exert control over and sadly the law is not one of them!

 

I don't believe this is true.

Your business would currently never open on a Sunday. No one gets their car serviced on a Sunday.

We're talking about hospitality and retail here. The penalties you quoted, certainly for hospitality are wrong. 1.25 and 1.5 times ordinary pay. Weekends are the busiest time for these industries - if the business is a success.

I know of no successful restaurants that don't open weekends. Obviously, they can afford the meagre penalty rates.

And there we have it.