Random Discussion - NO POLITICS, NO RELIGION

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BlueBelle said:
BLUEBELLE, WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Oops, that already happened last night! Yes peeps! OES asked me to marry him and I said yes!!! :D
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Took you long enough
 
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
 
Jatz said:
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
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I'm sorry to hear that, Jatzy. 95 is a great innings, but it doesn't make your loss any less sad.
 
Jatz said:
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
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Condolences Jatz. It's always tough losing a loved one no matter how old they are or how prepared you are
 
Jatz said:
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
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Sorry to hear mate.
 
Jatz said:
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
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Sincerest condolences to you & your family Jatz
 
Jatz said:
Just found out my 95 yo great grandmother passed away yesterday in her sleep.

Such a weird feeling - obviously sad but most don't make it to 95 or even pass away in their sleep. With my great grandfather passing at 101 about 4 years ago, a huge part of my childhood is now gone. We always use to go visit them when we made our bi annual trip to Melbourne. It's strange to think they're no longer there now.
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Condolences Jatz on the loss of your great grandmother. RIP.
 
Robbo's my hero said:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-29/rba-governor-philip-lowe-goes-marxist/8662228

If you work and have ten minutes you should read this informative article linking low wage growth to the industrial relations legislation (landscape) currently operating in Australia.

I retired from the Australian Public Service in February of this year. Due to the hardline bargaining framework set by the Government I had not received a pay rise since 1/7/13. The Coalition government decided to attack all aspects of our work arrangements knowing employees would not accept it. It was a deliberate tactic to delay agreements which nominally expired on 30/6/14 (I say agreements because each agency has its own EBA). The Government also slipped into the rules that back pay was not allowed. A tactic designed to starve us into submission.

It's worked with a number of departments (ATO, Defence, CSIRO etc) recently endorsing new agreements. The ballot process required for approval has resulted in several votes before it was agree to. Agriculture finally approved its EBA on the fifth ballot. Some agencies are still holding out such as Immigration and Border Patrol and DHS (responsible for Centrelink, Child Support and Medicare).

Effectively around 100,000 public servants have been holding out. All that was required from the other side were conditions left largely untouched and a fair pay rise. Conditions have been retained (however without back pay) government employees have agreed to 1% pay rise over a six year period. MPs, Department heads and senior
Staff have not imposed the same restrictions on themselves.

So what can you do about it? Join a union would be a starting point. There is strength in numbers.

What else needs to happen? Workplace laws need to be fixed. Employers have too much power under the current legislation. The body administering industrial legislation, the Fair Work Commission, fail to police breaches properly. That's why people like 7-11 workers get ripped off.

I could wax lyrical about the difficulty in taking industrial etc but take it from an old guy that things will only get worse if you don't take action.
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Good post Robbo.

I am also an APS employee and have always been a member of a union.

Unfortunately a lot of younger employees are not members of a union and the workplace will get worse in the next few years like you said.

Many staff resigned a few years ago by accepting packages. This has caused problems with staff continuing to soldier on. They have had to deal with an increasing workload. Management have become more stats orientated and place pressure on staff to meet targets. We all work hard but it can be very stressful when things happen that are out of your control and targets are not met. It is also now more difficult to get annual leave approved when you really need it, e.g., summer school holidays - even if you have worked 12 months without a break. So much for work/life balance. Thus the importance of joining a union.

I will retire at the end of November this year. The way things are going in the workplace thank goodness I stayed in the old super scheme (CSS) that will enable me to take advantage of the '54/11' option and receive a net fortnightly pension that will be greater than my net salary.
 
Blues177 said:
Good post Robbo.

I am also an APS employee and have always been a member of a union.

Unfortunately a lot of younger employees are not members of a union and the workplace will get worse in the next few years like you said.

Many staff resigned a few years ago by accepting packages. This has caused problems with staff continuing to soldier on. They have had to deal with an increasing workload. Management have become more stats orientated and place pressure on staff to meet targets. We all work hard but it can be very stressful when things happen that are out of your control and targets are not met. It is also now more difficult to get annual leave approved when you really need it, e.g., summer school holidays - even if you have worked 12 months without a break. So much for work/life balance. Thus the importance of joining a union.

I will retire at the end of November this year. The way things are going in the workplace thank goodness I stayed in the old super scheme (CSS) that will enable me to take advantage of the '54/11' option and receive a net fortnightly pension that will be greater than my net salary.
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I was in the PSS Scheme as I started in 1993. I'm a little jealous.

The Federal Government managed to rob me of the best years of my retirement income by not offering fair and reasonable EBAs from 1/7/14. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. I hope they have to pick up the tab for this shortsightedness when I reach pension age however that's the best part of seven years away.

By the description of your circumstances I'm pretty confident that we worked for the same department.

All I can say is that the agency I worked for was not interested in my skills and experience and kept organising my work to a point that pushed me towards the door. I'm not an automaton and found work very unsatisfying.

As for the future. I think union membership in private enterprise is around 10%. Overall it's around 15% (29% in the public service). Unless it gets to 50% plus (and industrial law makes this impossible) there is no hope for those who are in the workforce now. Low wages and lack of job security is a result of people not seeing the benefit of union membership.
 

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Well I have three people who are anti-union and have never joined a union. Fair enough. It's your right to not join the union.

However don't case your disapproval in arguments about how bad unions are when you've never bothered to join one and find out what they do for people. Don't argue about how bad unions are when you've been involved in dealings with them and don't like the fact that they protect union members. To suggest that unions have never done anything positive, and that's a reason for not joining one, displays an ignorance of history that's beyond my comprehension.

I suspect that none of you bothered to read my posts concerning low wage growth and the lack of job security that workers are experiencing (with accompanying newspaper articles). I put them up for those interested in understanding why this is a problem for people trying to get by and pay bills, buy houses etc in contemporary Australia.

There are a number of reasons why we are in a period of low wages and casualisation in the work force.

My suggestion is that people need to organise to protect their standard of living and job security. I also think that the current industrial legislation allows working people to be exploited and it needs to be changed to redress the imbalance between employers and employees.

I'm not sure where any of you stand on these issues other than your jaundiced views of unions.
 
Robbo's my hero said:
Well I have three people who are anti-union and have never joined a union. Fair enough. It's your right to not join the union.

However don't case your disapproval in arguments about how bad unions are when you've never bothered to join one and find out what they do for people. Don't argue about how bad unions are when you've been involved in dealings with them and don't like the fact that they protect union members. To suggest that unions have never done anything positive, and that's a reason for not joining one, displays an ignorance of history that's beyond my comprehension.

I suspect that none of you bothered to read my posts concerning low wage growth and the lack of job security that workers are experiencing (with accompanying newspaper articles). I put them up for those interested in understanding why this is a problem for people trying to get by and pay bills, buy houses etc in contemporary Australia.

There are a number of reasons why we are in a period of low wages and casualisation in the work force.

My suggestion is that people need to organise to protect their standard of living and job security. I also think that the current industrial legislation allows working people to be exploited and it needs to be changed to redress the imbalance between employers and employees.

I'm not sure where any of you stand on these issues other than your jaundiced views of unions.
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I said "in my experience". I have had multiple dealings with Unions over many years. You don't need to join one to form a view. Anyway we will never change each other's minds so I'm not going to get into it further.

I never said they've "never done anything positive" so I find your accusation of ignorance highly offensive.
 
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