How lucky are we ?

Reading the herald sun yesterday read about toll in the states having trouble with the unions, also read that they have increased the hourly rate for drivers from $12.70 per/hour to $19.00 per/hour.

Gee I bet not to many here would get out of bed for that. Lol

But my question is with the likes of Ford closing down, Holden asking workers to take a pay cut and toyota already doing the sums on how much it will cost to retrench its workforce will our rates still be around in years to come.

Trevor

Trev ... How are these people in the mines going to survive when the mining boom finishes and we're all back on 20 bucks an hour instead of 40+ ....Gunna be hard for some when the plasma telly stuffs up ...

sooner the better

When comparing wages in different countries or even within Australia. You should consider the cost of living. Such as rent, food etc costs.

Food is the easiest to look at. I think you would find that the cost of food would be a bit cheaper in the US and would be more expensive in the outback.

I wonder how well these would rate then?

When comparing wages in different countries or even within Australia. You should consider the cost of living. Such as rent, food etc costs.

Food is the easiest to look at. I think you would find that the cost of food would be a bit cheaper in the US and would be more expensive in the outback.

I wonder how well these would rate then?

I am still getting the same money for cattle as I was in the late seventies when I brought the farm, you would have never sold steak for $20 kg then, so the high cost of food here is only a profit margin for the super makets, they will have to reduce costs a lot to stay in the game, they make the price fit what people will pay, and all things are on the way down.

Louie,

Was only discussing retail pricing between countries and the relation to wages. (Only used food for example the whole cost of living accommodation etc needs to be examined really) Not wholesale over the years!

You are correct that retail is all based on what people are willing (or have to) pay. But Wholesale is based on how much profit the retailers want to make as well as how cheap they can get the product for! So if they can get a cheap product and it is worth a lot to retail then big profits and they are happy! Which affects the wholesaler or primary producers.

The other thing is in the 70's the average wage would have been lot less than it is now so a $20 steak/kg would have not sold compared with the now average wage. In the end it is all relative. But still doesn't excuse that the wholesale price hasn't changed!

I found it quite strange when I was working at Mudgee, a few years ago, then got transferred to Singleton,to find that groceries etc were a lot dearer in Singleton.i asked a manager of one of the supermarkets about it ,and he said that the wages were a lot higher in Singleton due to the coal mines,so therefore the prices were higher. So much for telling us that the cost of transporting goods accounts for the high prices.

The IT industry has been suffering real rate falls for decades. in 1987 I was earning $28 an hour and the contractor beside me (who knew less than I did) was on over $100 per hour. It was because there we more IT jobs than IT people

I got near to the $100 per hour in 2011 as a self-employed contractor. That job finished (the work was done) and I grabbed a job rather than be unemployed at the going market rate of $50 per hour for a max payment of 8 hours per day although you were expected to work 10 - 12 hours with the overtime not being paid (effectively making it $33- $40 per hour). only $5 per hour better off than 1987!

if you didn't do the unpaid overtime continuously it was deemed you were 'underperforming' as they tried to bully you into it. All this from an organisation that claims to offer flexibility to provide a 'work/life balance.

The latest industry trick is to advertise for a senior person, then offer them a rate where they would be financially better off stacking supermarket shelves so the person turns the job down, then claim there is nobody in Australia and bring in a 457 visa person to do the job!

Trev ... How are these people in the mines going to survive when the mining boom finishes and we're all back on 20 bucks an hour instead of 40+ ....Gunna be hard for some when the plasma telly stuffs up ...

Werk

Which plasma

Don't think it will be too long till they have to find out.

Also in Saturdays paper was all about China and the Credit crunch, which I see already hit the iron ore/scrap steel prices in Australia on Friday, scrap down $20 tonne immediately.

Think we are in for a bumpy ride. Something normally gives if its to bumpy.

Trevor

When comparing wages in different countries or even within Australia. You should consider the cost of living. Such as rent, food etc costs.

Food is the easiest to look at. I think you would find that the cost of food would be a bit cheaper in the US and would be more expensive in the outback.

I wonder how well these would rate then?

JB

Have just come back from Europe and I can tell you food prices are about the same as us but fuel was between $2 - $3.30Aus per litre.

Most wages are crap if it was not for all the tips don't know how they can survive.


Trucks restricted to 90 kph , no driving on Weekends, no hand written log books all computers, 1/2hour & 3/4 hour stops during the day, also very restricted with hours driving per day.

Then 5-6 weeks down the track you can get pulled up they plug in the computer and bingo 5 weeks ago you only stopped for 28 minutes not 30. Thankyou very much 700 euro fine.

Wonder how long before it comes in here across the board.

One thing I noticed overseas was that 99.9% of driver were polite allowing people to merge in, no one travelled in the fast lane and everything just flowed even on roundabouts. No honking of horns or getting agro they just did a slow dance and everything flowed. This was across all 18 countries we visited.

Boy could they teach us a thing or two.

Trevor