[Surferdude]

Interested in Rick's take on this - and anyone elses, too of course.


 Australian Trucking Association appeals for government to make foreign drivers

[beerman]

Remember when the laws of supply and demand affected employment, if you were struggling to get workers, you paid more money.

Now you use 457 visas to fill the vacancies and keep wages low....

But I wonder how they will go with all the compliance issues. I dare say the big companies will pressure the 457 holders to ignore fatigue laws etc until they lose their licence. Then they will be sent back and replaced with new fodder.

Much better to train our own.....If gen Y can be convinced to live without constant face book updates, they might have a job here....

[Doggie 1]

 

Congratulations on your VIP status too. 

[Phil №❶]

  Too.

[Just Rick]

F#*k me where do I start,I have been in the transport industry in one form or another since I was 16, so over 41 year now,I got my then C class license at 16,as a prime mover was the only vehicle I could scab up to go for my driving test.

Yes the industry is in Turmoil,you could say it is rusting away,I don't know what the answer is,but 457 visa holders are not it,we here have had a huge rise in the cases of what the Media call TRUCK accidents,now here is the twist,they actually report courier drivers in Utes,taxi truck drivers in car licensed trucks and trucks under the eight tonne mark and label them all TRUCKS(which technically they are) but what the general public envisions when these accidents are reported,they automatically think Heavy Haulage vehicles,I have witnessed three of these so called TRUCK accidents,one a Ute Two car licensed courier trucks,all driven by foreigners,all driving them as if they were in cars.

Young blokes don't want to learn the game,many can't handle the amount of hard graft for even doing local work,large companies don't want to train people properly these days,as they know the younger ones won't stick around long,then   when these 457 visa workers come in they are just so dangerous, but will work for peanuts,this is why the smaller fly by night transport companies flourish.

Bit like the shearing industry,It's a dying art,why would a young bloke or woman for that fact,train for a job that requires hard work,get paid as little as $120 a day,when they can stay a little longer at school and get a office job which pays more.
All I can add,is the quality of so called professional drivers in the past few years has been a joke,all the big companies want is an arse on a seat to point the truck(basically a seat cover)even to the point many larger companies now buy nothing but Auto's,so any dope can drive.

Like I say I been doing it for 41 years and I'm still learning new ways to do things,there's more to doing the job than just turning a key,placing the truck in gear and going from point A to Point B,then you have to do it safely as well.

[beerman]

Thanks for the congrats on the VIP....

Welcome to the world of media scrutiny. Qantas copped it for a while, with every plane that suffered a mechanical issue widely reported in the media, it didn't matter that the crew executed a text book recovery and safely landed the plane, the issue was front page news.

A big truck crash will also make big news, usually they are accompanied by death and major traffic delays and it is easy for the news to get the pictures their users crave add to that the memory of the occasional idiot truck driver who tail gated them and you have the recipe for media gold.

[The Gonz]

I went for a mere semi-rigid licence about a year ago and it was no walk in the park. You soon learn anything bigger than a car is not a car and shouldn't be driven as one.

[Doggie 1]

And did you end up getting a semi-rigid? 

[The Gonz]

Yes indeed. It then marked the beginning of my legal driving of Rosa 22-seaters.

[Just Rick]

And did you end up getting a semi-rigid? 

I'm still trying to work out what a semi rigid is  wonder if Gonz meanz a heavy rigid  , yes and the Z was a deliberate mistake

[The Gonz]

Oops! I think I meant medium rigid. Good pick-up, Rick, but I expect no less from you.

[rustynutz]

I get semi, heavy and medium rigid at times... 

[Doggie 1]

It made sense to me. 

[FatBoy]

I get semi, heavy and medium rigid at times... 

So did I with all the girls wearing light dresses in Perth today.

[Doggie 1]

I get semi, heavy and medium rigid at times... 

So did I with all the girls wearing light dresses in Perth today.

Great place, Perth - hot and windy. 

[The Gonz]