and you think that you work for peanuts

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

LOL, our senior auto elec is only paid $25 an hour and he's been in the game for 42 years if someone gave me the opportunity for $23 an hour I'd jump at it.

yeah, it is casual for the first three months though, so that includes casual loading, ie annual leave sick pay etc etc

but still, i simply couldnt fathom it when she said she turned it down. all because 6am is too early for her to start. she has no kids, her bf works full time, no reason for her not to work.

ok, its a boring repetitive factory job, but in a single shift they get something like 4 smoko breaks, they're pretty much guaranteed to go permanent after 3 months if they stick at it.

my ex has worked there since we moved here, shes now 2ic and earning about that as a permanent.

[KITBAG]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

filipino's will work 24/7 if it was possible.

So true,
I am sitting here in my motel room in Alabang in the Philippines.
See those places in pictures to.

[KITBAG]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

i was paying over $100 per day for food and water there .
a shopping mall.

I here on my 5 work trip, this time for 2 months,
so far I have spent $100 aus dollars on food and water
(5 Days in 2 month stint).

A shopping Malls.............. MEGA MALLS. They are HUGE, i walked around
the one in alabang yesterday and it took me 5 hours.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by 87 XF - AU11

A shopping Malls.............. MEGA MALLS. They are HUGE, i walked around
the one in alabang yesterday and it took me 5 hours.

some are huge. i was amazed that you could leave your shopping in a cloakroom and pick it up when you were leaving. no more carrying heavy stuff around with you

off topic totally, but where is alabang - metro manila?? - just checked - just down the road from pandacan. we probably went passed on the way to tagaytay

[KITBAG]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

topic totally, but where is alabang - metro manila?? - just checked - just down the road from pandacan. we probably went passed on the way to tagaytay

I am in the Vivere Hotel
5102 Bridgeway Ave., cor. Asean Drive,
Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang,
Muntinlupa City Philippines

I have been to allot of places........
On resent trips I was(training our workers) on installing our products in PLDT telephone exchanges all over the Philippines.
This time I am here just working out of our office designing new product for PLDT.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

that happens in australia too - in fact all countries. it is called human nature


i am not disputing this, but i am unsure how it could have cost that much. i spent $330 a day on average in my trip in 2005. that includes my airfare. my motel bill, all of my food, my fiance's food, two airfares, and a bus and ferry ride to an exotic island. 2 and a half days on the said island. a private taxi (at mates rates admittidely. a trip to an amusement park where i paid for all six of us and other things too



some are happier than us, because they are not spoilt people. believe it or not some people do not need a big house and shiny car for happiness. they need their family and faith. most third world country's have residents that are happier than australians because they have their priorities right. well actually it is forced onto them because of poverty. it is not forced unto us, so we only care about what we have and what we can get, when most of us have everything we already need



how many people in australia are happy to give money to the homeless, particularly if they have worked for it and the homeless haven't. the people working and carrying our bags need to eat too - and feed their own family. while i would not suggest there are no selfish people in any particular country, i found the filipino's to be no more selfish than australians. i did however find them to be much happier


that happens in australia too - it is called welfare, not tips. there are professional beggars in any country though, and australia certainly isn't exempt from that. the filipinos are just human as well


you probably would have been able to keep it - maybe only until you went through customs, but if a police officer is willing to see his badge to feed his family, that could give an idea about living conditions there


6 years ago there was armed guards outside banks and other areas. to go into some shopping malls, you had to be scanned for weapons etc. men went one side and ladies the other. i assume the reasoning for scanning is not to stop the average young kid with a knife, but because of an almost constant threat of terror from the southern philippines, who it seems would like to take their own area of the philippines to create their own country. once again, that should give you an idea about how they live over there.

mate . dont want to sound like i dont like them cause i do . they are happy people , its wrong for us aussies to say they are hard done by . by our standards maybe they are , but aussies are hard done by too - in happiness factor and working hours and debts . us aussies believe we have it great , not true . by the way , many many many beautiful loyal good girls over there ,waiting for a good life ,not snobby either , they will look after a man , if a man looks after them .

[shedcoupe]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

mate . dont want to sound like i dont like them cause i do . they are happy people , its wrong for us aussies to say they are hard done by . by our standards maybe they are , but aussies are hard done by too - in happiness factor and working hours and debts . us aussies believe we have it great , not true . by the way , many many many beautiful loyal good girls over there ,waiting for a good life ,not snobby either , they will look after a man , if a man looks after them .

Agree re quality of life and happiness.

Saw John Safran do a show about whether appearance really matters to women by meeting girls in Bangkok who were interested in getting a Western husband (he got made up as the Elephant Man the cheeky little b...).
One woman was absolutely beautiful at 30-ish, spoke great English, and seemed thoroughly decent.
I wondered if I should get a passport ....

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

its wrong for us aussies to say they are hard done by . by our standards maybe they are , but aussies are hard done by too - in happiness factor and working hours and debts . us aussies believe we have it great , not true . by the way , many many many beautiful loyal good girls over there ,waiting for a good life ,not snobby either , they will look after a man , if a man looks after them .

they are happy because they like the simple things. as the saying goes - the best things in life are free

aussies are not hard done by compared to the majority of races. we do not have to choose between a roof over our heads and food. some filipino's do. we do not have to live with cousins and aunties etc. some filipino's do

"if" we do not have quality of life, it is due to jealousy and greed. our friends have a big screen tv so we must have one to be happy. people in third world countries only have their families and faith - and yet they can still manage to smile. that doesn't mean we are hard done by - that means we are spoilt, and they are grateful

to put it in perspective just think if 80,000,000 people lived in australia with virtually no manufacturing. take away our ambulance service - they have one but due to traffic you won't make it to hospital in time. take away our welfare, reduce our garbage collection, take away our clean water etc. etc. etc. etc. and then maybe then we can consider ourselves lucky. please give me a break. i realise you are not trying to put them down and my reply may come across more personal and arrogant than i meant, but why do you think so many are looking abroad for work, knowing they are getting ripped off compared to the locals. and by the way, the ones that do work in the philippines work harder than we do - and "that" is quality of life

[irish2]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

You ever asked one of these 20% unemployed if they actually want to work...sad truth is most of the time, the answer is no.

What proof do I have of this...? I worked in recruitment, they would show up to ensure they met their quota for job seeking, attend one day, tell me to get ********d and go collect their dole payments...

It's not about training, as there are plenty of companies who are prepared to give people a shot, even those with no experience. At the end of the day, it's up to the individual to want to work. Sad truth is, those migrants, actually do want to work.

No the answer is YES!. I went to school with many people who completed university degrees, only to have no job at the end. They eventually got jobs diving forklifts before moving into their chosen fields. I am serious when I say I have seen companies first hand use 457 visas to satisfy requirements over local labour.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by irish2

No the answer is YES!. I went to school with many people who completed university degrees, only to have no job at the end. They eventually got jobs diving forklifts before moving into their chosen fields. I am serious when I say I have seen companies first hand use 457 visas to satisfy requirements over local labour.

Out of curiosity, what were their chosen fields?

[irish2]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

Out of curiosity, what were their chosen fields?

Mostly IT, teaching, and science based degrees.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by irish2

Mostly IT, teaching, and science based degrees.

That's kind of what I expected to hear.

There is a skills shortage in Australia, particularly in the mining industry, not so much in any of those areas. Them going off shore generally covers the skills of boilermakers, fitters, mechanical engineers, etc.

Australia is slowly picking up the ball, and people are starting to get back into trades again (slowly), but it's becoming a case of who can give them the most money - we're greedy and when it all collapses...every single one of us will be up s*** creek.

As long as all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed - however they do this, is legal...

[hiper]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

As long as all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed - however they do this, is legal...

ive done contracting work and as far as i can tell its all legal.
to get the contract you have to out bid other people.. which usually means offering to be paid less than other people.

my last job i was getting paid 32.50/hr plus super
add in the other costs of employment such as workcover, gst, agency fees etc... the place of work paid the agency about 45/hr for me, but i only saw 32.50
arguing for a raise was annoying because i saw that i was getting paid 32.50 (less than the FT employees) but my boss saw that he was paying 45/hr for me to be there... which was MORE than the FT employees.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by hiper

ive done contracting work and as far as i can tell its all legal.
to get the contract you have to out bid other people.. which usually means offering to be paid less than other people.

my last job i was getting paid 32.50/hr plus super
add in the other costs of employment such as workcover, gst, agency fees etc... the place of work paid the agency about 45/hr for me, but i only saw 32.50
arguing for a raise was annoying because i saw that i was getting paid 32.50 (less than the FT employees) but my boss saw that he was paying 45/hr for me to be there... which was MORE than the FT employees.

The agency weren't making a lot of money off your placement, which is usually where they get their income from.

Your boss should really have known what the 45 was for, as someone would have had to sign off on terms of business and the original quote from the agency...

We had placements out for some of the bigger company's in Brisbane...making about $8 an hour on top of wages, insurances, etc...

They certainly know where to sting a company. In saying this, it takes the pain out of hiring and firing for them.

Permanent placements can grab them up to 19% of the annual salary (plus super).

It's a lucrative business.

[Fled74]

Please note, my views do not in any way represent those of my countrymen.

Speaking as a Filipino who lived in the Phils for 29 years of my life, I have to agree that what many Aussies would consider "gross underpayment" is regarded by many of my countrymen back home as "a good wage".

Indeed, my very first job in Australia paid only $7.80 an hour. A 29-year-old earning a first-year apprentice wage sounds real bad, but to an immigrant "fresh off the boat", so to speak, it seemed a glorious windfall. At today's exchange rate that would be about 335 pesos/hour, and the most I'd earned in my low-paying IT job was 290 pesos/hour. So, obviously I jumped at the opportunity.

That was eight years ago, and now I'm in a different field and making much more than $7.80 an hour, but I can totally understand if/why those poor oil rig workers agreed to what they thought was "good pay".

On a side note, 87 XF - AU11, the Vivere Hotel where you're staying is 15 minutes from my parents' house and was where my wedding reception was held nine years ago.