billbeee
26th August 2007, 12:16 PM
We keep reading in the papers about the skill shortage.
What caused it, why are we in the state of having to bring in guest workers from overseas to do our skilled work?
I can only speak for what I know, which is the building industry, but other industries must have similar problems. I reckon that it all boils down to the breakdown of the apprenticeship system. Which to my mind has been caused by-
The forced rise of sub-contract labour. In the past, a young tradesman quits and goes working for himself. A natural state of things. This has been happening for hundreds of years. Many more of course carried on working for wages. Their choice and the system worked well enough.
Then we got a shift in emphasis, when large companies like Civil and Civic were able to do multi-million dollar jobs totally with subbie labour. They hardly had a single tradesman on wages. Most workers on the job were classed as subbies, and had to take on the responsibility for their own insurance, holidays, tax, super, etc, saving the large employers millions.
The true meaning of sub contract, as it applied to guys like me when we first got into it, was a contract to do a certain section of the work for a fixed lump sum price.
The likes of Civil and Civic and Multiplex changed all that for ever. No doubt through pressure on the government and hence the tax department, the definition of sub contractor was changed to include workers on an hourly or piecework rates. They then proceeded to employ only self employed subbies, thus forcing the guys on wages to change. The result was that the tradesmen subbies who were screwed into the ground on prices, had neither the the time or inclination to hire and teach apprentices or trainees on the job.
Naturally apprenticeship enrollments dropped so the government put in poor regulations to the effect that for every few $million of the contract price the contractor would have to employ an apprentice. What did the big companies do? They hired first year apprentices from apprentice pools and had them sweeping up and running errands all day, there was nobody employed to train them
Small builders like myself who did employ apprentices, usually used a group apprenticeship scheme. Our MBA ran the one I used for a few years. At the end of it I had to stop employing apprentices because, say for a third year apprentice I had to pay something like $22.50 an hour charge out rate. This rate included the lad's time at school, insurance, holiday pay etc. At the very same time I could get a tradesman (subbie) carpenter with a trailer full of power tools for $27.00 an hour. Who would you choose?.
While all this was happening, we got the other half of the double whammy. The powers that be in education decided in their wisdom to close down the manual skills workshops and put the emphasis into computer training.
I have done a lot of work at a senior secondary school, that had a well set up metalworking shop, lathes, welding booths etc. all gathering dust. I would say it has been closed for 15 years. Almost the same with the woodworking shop. No more than half a dozen students. Ah! but they have four of five fully equipped computer labs.
I firmly believe that the education system for many years now has been wrongly pushing up the average kids expectations. They have been taught to believe that a trade is somehow low on the list of occupations. How wrong they are.I think we have lost more than a generation of potential tradesmen.
There has got to be a better way. It is fairly obvious that we can't go back to the old ways of doing things, but I think that both on job and off job training for young people is in a terrible state.
We are living in a rich country and yet we can't find the money to teach our kids well, at any level of education and training.
I for one, happen to think that a smart well educated younger generation is a better deal for our country's future survival, than half a dozen Collins class submarines.
I am fairly sure that Matt88s who started this thread (http://woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=54964&highlight=uni+text+books) on the cost and pressures of getting a uni education, would prefer like me, that our respective governments spent less money on overseas posturing, and put more into subsidising higher education.
Temporary 457 visas for skilled migrants. What have we come to, and what will be next?
End of rant.
Regards
Bill.
What caused it, why are we in the state of having to bring in guest workers from overseas to do our skilled work?
I can only speak for what I know, which is the building industry, but other industries must have similar problems. I reckon that it all boils down to the breakdown of the apprenticeship system. Which to my mind has been caused by-
The forced rise of sub-contract labour. In the past, a young tradesman quits and goes working for himself. A natural state of things. This has been happening for hundreds of years. Many more of course carried on working for wages. Their choice and the system worked well enough.
Then we got a shift in emphasis, when large companies like Civil and Civic were able to do multi-million dollar jobs totally with subbie labour. They hardly had a single tradesman on wages. Most workers on the job were classed as subbies, and had to take on the responsibility for their own insurance, holidays, tax, super, etc, saving the large employers millions.
The true meaning of sub contract, as it applied to guys like me when we first got into it, was a contract to do a certain section of the work for a fixed lump sum price.
The likes of Civil and Civic and Multiplex changed all that for ever. No doubt through pressure on the government and hence the tax department, the definition of sub contractor was changed to include workers on an hourly or piecework rates. They then proceeded to employ only self employed subbies, thus forcing the guys on wages to change. The result was that the tradesmen subbies who were screwed into the ground on prices, had neither the the time or inclination to hire and teach apprentices or trainees on the job.
Naturally apprenticeship enrollments dropped so the government put in poor regulations to the effect that for every few $million of the contract price the contractor would have to employ an apprentice. What did the big companies do? They hired first year apprentices from apprentice pools and had them sweeping up and running errands all day, there was nobody employed to train them
Small builders like myself who did employ apprentices, usually used a group apprenticeship scheme. Our MBA ran the one I used for a few years. At the end of it I had to stop employing apprentices because, say for a third year apprentice I had to pay something like $22.50 an hour charge out rate. This rate included the lad's time at school, insurance, holiday pay etc. At the very same time I could get a tradesman (subbie) carpenter with a trailer full of power tools for $27.00 an hour. Who would you choose?.
While all this was happening, we got the other half of the double whammy. The powers that be in education decided in their wisdom to close down the manual skills workshops and put the emphasis into computer training.
I have done a lot of work at a senior secondary school, that had a well set up metalworking shop, lathes, welding booths etc. all gathering dust. I would say it has been closed for 15 years. Almost the same with the woodworking shop. No more than half a dozen students. Ah! but they have four of five fully equipped computer labs.
I firmly believe that the education system for many years now has been wrongly pushing up the average kids expectations. They have been taught to believe that a trade is somehow low on the list of occupations. How wrong they are.I think we have lost more than a generation of potential tradesmen.
There has got to be a better way. It is fairly obvious that we can't go back to the old ways of doing things, but I think that both on job and off job training for young people is in a terrible state.
We are living in a rich country and yet we can't find the money to teach our kids well, at any level of education and training.
I for one, happen to think that a smart well educated younger generation is a better deal for our country's future survival, than half a dozen Collins class submarines.
I am fairly sure that Matt88s who started this thread (http://woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=54964&highlight=uni+text+books) on the cost and pressures of getting a uni education, would prefer like me, that our respective governments spent less money on overseas posturing, and put more into subsidising higher education.
Temporary 457 visas for skilled migrants. What have we come to, and what will be next?
End of rant.
Regards
Bill.