Pinny

Hi
Does anyone have any info on Red card for working in Construction?
I have looked at a few Job vacancies on the net & some mention this.
Can i get one quite quickly once i arrive?

Cheers
Stuart

Pollyana

Which State are you heading for?

robertnhelen

Hi Stuart,

The Red card is for Victoria with the other states having various other card colours, its a one day course held by your respective trade body or at TAFE, I think they are run pretty frequently, did mine 2 weeks ago at AMCA in Burwood, Melbourne. Dony know about cost as my employer paid for it, you cant get on a Union site without it though.

Good luck, where are you heading?

Cheers,

Rob

Pinny

Hi

Victoria, Melbourne hopefully. Chippy by trade.

Cheers
Stuart

Pinny

Hi Rob

Thanks for the info, hopefully heading for Melbourne. Chippy by trade.
I don't suppose you have any contacts for employment, although i hear i should'nt have too much trouble getting work.(or am i being over optimisic).
Are most carpenters employed or self employed?
Are all construction sites Union sites?

Cheers
Stuart

upyerfud

You can also do the Queensland Blue card equivelant on-line for about $70 and its recognised in NSW and Victoria. Its a piss easy multi-choice exam where if you get some answers wrong then you can have another 2 attempts to get the right answer. A lot of the questions only have 3 choices . Its basically a piece of arse covering bueracratic nonsense, something this country does a lot better than the UK. Similair to safety passport a lot of sites in UK require nowadays. Google Queensland Bluecard for websites. You need to get a copy of your drivers licence/passport and a stat dec signed by a JP in Oz once you complete the exam and post the lot away. Easy as.

robertnhelen

Although by national agreement each state has to accept each others card some union reps on the sites wont accept them unless its for their state so be carefull, best to get the card for whatever state you want to work in, ball ache I know but it happens.

Cheers,

Rob.

robertnhelen

You shouldnt have any problems finding a job Stuart, my cousins are chippies so I will ask over the weekend, any idea where abouts in Victoria you want to settle or are you waiting until you get here.

There are quite a lot of self employed tradies but I dont know what the split is, you will find that most of the bigger non domestic sites are union sites, nothing to worry about, you just find that its all by the book, like the last week or so with the heat as soon as it went over 35 ( about noon) everybody on the union sites go home, same with rain if you have a strict shop stuard on site.

Cheers,

Rob.

Pinny

Hi Rob
We are looking at south, south east Melbourne, maybe around Berwick, Beaconsfield.
Is this a little bit out of town and would you recommend a bit closer for work purposes?
Do you know anything about these areas, schools, crime rates etc.
Cheers
Stuart