Originally Posted by papilon (Post 10082989)

Wont go to the mountain??? it is incredibly difficult to get jobs in mining. Have never seen much of a campaign here in Victoria looking for workers. If the miners ran a campaign looking to train workers and send them to the mines from Victoria they would be swamped.

Originally Posted by papilon (Post 10083068)

Reinhart recently started buying Fairfax Media shares, Fairfax owner of papers like The Age and Sydney Morning Herald are traditionally Labour supporters.
Maybe the government got scared and are trying to sweeten her up if she promises to leave there backers alone by allowing her some cheap foreign labour????

Originally Posted by WestLondonWelshman (Post 10082111)

Slaphead isn't the worry for Australia with the mining boom right now is that the rest of the economy is not really going anywhere at the moment with the dollar strength sucking the life out of manufacturers in particular and Australian banks not really bothered about lending to small businesses and/or residential mortgages?

The China outlook isn't as rosy as it was and the mining boom is directly linked with Chinese growth so a Greek default is going to hit chinas main export market i.e europe and usa, slowing down china and as a result the mining sector...Basic supply and demand economics really.

Originally Posted by slapphead_otool (Post 10083043)

Between 1985 and 1995 I worked around the Australian mines and mineral processing operations (and across Asia in the same areas). I was very lucky, I worked for a highly specialist company that gave me easy access to the sites.

Three things stuck out then.

Firstly it was a small(ish) community. If people didn't know you, they knew your boss, or the plant manager, or someone on the crew. it was an insiders world.

Secondly a lot of people arrived full of enthusiasm, and left just as quickly. The site were weary of guys turning up and not sticking it out, especially if the plant invested money on them. It's a tough life. Really tough, and it seems endless. It sounds great when you sit on your arse in A trendy bar in Melbourne, but when you are in a donga on a site with basic amenities and it's a Friday night, it's not so much fun.

Thirdly, the operations are quite specific. Long wall mining, Pearce Smith converters, cast houses, and furnaces, Noranda reactors, flotation tanks, hydro cyclones and dense medium separation plants, are all semi unique even to individual operations. unless you speak the speak and understand what the hell the operation does you are just another mouth to feed. If the plant wants a cast house worker they expect them to know what the hell it does.

If I wanted to work in the resources industry now, I would get some tickets under my belt. Fork lift, crane, truck, welder etc.

Then I would head to the mine area and get ANY job. Sweeping up in the local fab shop. Drink in the bars, get known, stay out of trouble, and chances are you will get a gig. Once you are in, you are in.....

Originally Posted by papilon (Post 10082989)

Wont go to the mountain??? it is incredibly difficult to get jobs in mining. Have never seen much of a campaign here in Victoria looking for workers. If the miners ran a campaign looking to train workers and send them to the mines from Victoria they would be swamped.

Originally Posted by verystormy (Post 10083928)

The reality is that most people from outside the industry don't understand is that there is not much call for unskilled people in mining. A lot of the roles are deemed unskilled because there isn't s formal training period or a particular degree, but a are still highly trained. For example, a jumbo operator won't have done a aprentership but it normally take about 7 years to train for it. A non degree qualified surveyor is classed as unskilled, but it takes about 4 years training.

I work at a very large mine with around 1500 staff on site but the number of real unskilled staff is probably only about 40 and they are in training.

So it's not a viable option to just recruit people that have been made unemployed from another industry. Nor is it just a matter of companies training staff. A lot of the very big in demand roles require university degrees such as engineers, geologists, metallurgists.

Originally Posted by boots (Post 10084108)

Then why is there 1,700 UNSKILLED Chinese coolies on the way to Roy Hill Iron Ore Rinehart Mine?
Plus the other 1,000's of Unskilled Foreign workers in place now,why was the "Highly Skilled"457 Polish worker killed on a rigging site????,he was doing a manual labour's job when he was killed,but he was a 457 Proffesional????

Originally Posted by slapphead_otool (Post 10084115)

They work hard, don't strike, and probably don't get the same benefits as Australian employed workers.

When I first arrived in Australia crane drivers on building sites earned more than 747 pilots, demanded conditions like free raybans, and were on strike most of the time. The building unions held everyone to ransom.

With Gillard up the unions arse I don't blame companies for bringing in foreigners to get s site built in time to catch the boom.

Originally Posted by boots (Post 10084158)

OK then,glad you like your kids eating a bowl of rice with a fish head for their main meal then!Butthats something that would never happen to a wealthy Nation is it?

Originally Posted by scottishcelts (Post 10082879)

:frown: no you won't. I love that pic.

Originally Posted by Bermudashorts (Post 10084278)

+1 :)