greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2023 at 12:19pm:

I worked for 30 to 40 years on and off as a self-employed engineering
consultant working through contract agencies in Australia and the UK.

I was never a union member in all those years, and never received the
benefits you list here:

Annual leave, sick pay, meal breaks, superannuation, maternity leave,
penalty rates etc.

I also had to fund my own superannuation and income protection.

As far as my rates of pay were concerned, it was up to me to negotiate
directly with the companies I worked for, both at the start of my contract
and through the tenure of longer contracts, which sometimes extended for
24 or 36 months. 

As a self-employed contractor, the Association of Architects, Engineers,
Surveyors and Draughtsmen of Australia (AAESDA) would not accept
self-employed engineers as members;  only salaried or wages people.

So we were left to fight our own pay battles.

And all this is one of the reasons I'm against any additional public holidays
such as the Victorian grand final Friday holiday, King's Birthday, Labour (sic) Day ,
Melbourne Cup Day, Easter Monday, and all the public holidays "manufactured"
in lieu of those  falling on Saturdays or Sundays.

This year for example New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, so we make the
following Monday a gazetted public holiday.  This is itself is absurd, and
costs the average engineering contract worker (say) $500, while the
salaried engineer pockets that amount.    Is that fair?   Not really, when
you multiply that by the 13 public holidays in Victoria.  ($6,500 in total. Ouch!)

Another massive taxpayer savings could be made in a very simple manner.
State and Federal public servants should work on weekday public holidays,
or if not, then they would not be paid for public holidays.  This could save
potentially billions of dollars annually if the second option were taken.

And yes;  I believe Australia employs far too many public servants (sic)
at all three government levels, with far too many of those sitting in comfortable,
overpaid niches, and protected by aggressive, untouchable unions.

(But that's a topic for another thread.)

Gnads wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2023 at 12:38pm:


Can't argue with that assessment, Gnads.

Lisa Jones wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2023 at 8:40am:


Like I actually give a rats arse.... seriously?

When I first entered the Railways in 1973 I joined the relevant Union after I was shown exactly what Unionism had bought to the workplace for the benefit of all employees.

Any fair minded person could see the reasoning there.

At that time anyone who chose not to, objected to & refused to join a Union relevant to their classification (there were many classifications in a railway) would have an equivalent amount of money to their applicable Union dues deducted from their pay every fortnight by the Employer to be given to a nominated charity.

It was a good idea & a fair result for all. Even the employer realised that.

It only changed when slimey Johnny Howard got into the seat in 1996.

Opened the door to all the leaners & scabs who are prepared to take & not contribute - Jasins testament to that.

The same sort of people that come running looking for Union assistance when they think they have been wronged by their employer.

8 hr day, 5 day week - now a 38 hr week, annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, compassionate leave, cultural leave, meal breaks,workplace health & safety, superannuation, workplace amenities, reasonable hours of work etc. etc.

All part of what Unions have won for their members & not one bit of that was ever given freely out of the goodness of their hearts to workers by employers.

Regarding your 1st paragraph .... don't tell me you're a Union Rep? None that I know are on or commanding obscene salaries.

$550 per annum = $21.15 per fortnight.

The Union dues as Locomotive Driver of my former Union the RTBU is
$29.40 per fortnight = $764.40 per annum.

Other Unions & occupations there covered have much higher dues.

So $550 is a more than reasonable contribution.

Otherwise those who chose not to should forgo any of the above mentioned workplace wages & conditions negotiated & won by Unions.

Nothing but a pack of scabs leeching off the worker in the Union paying the way for wage cases and fights over conditions....

26,000 is not a small sample.

The decline of union membership has been mirrored in the application of Industrial relations legislation from the right predominantly but the left have not been a lot better.

Business the business unions and the Liberal party have been successful in finding ways to neuter the unions.

The clear result has been decades of wage and condition stagnation. There is no case to argue otherwise.