online.wsj.comPosted Nov 17, 2011, 4:02 AM UTC
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Why is it a problem? Anyone can work in the mines if they want, as long as they're prepared to bust their fucking guts out working 10-hour shifts in 40 degree heat. They earn their money and they can spend it however they please. All this talk about "uneducated, garish" men smacks of classism to me.
Demand for those willing to work 12-hour days in sometimes dangerous conditions, while living for weeks in dusty small towns, is huge.
He can keep it, I'm fine where I am.
For that money, that sounds like a fucking godsend. I'd live there for six months in the winter and party in the summer.
I have turned down many jobs in the mines for to keep my lifestyle, all my friends are in the same boat as this fella. The mines take a massive mental toll on people and when they have their leave they buy toys and party hard to tell themselves it's worth it, in the end I don't think it is, the mines arent for everyone and most people I know who work their don't belong there.
It would be worth it if they save their Money. I make more in a week in the mines than I did working 6 weeks in perth.
Haven't you heard? You have to be 10 years in before you can take summer off.
People are paid what they're worth, so what.
Rarely, IMHO.
It's only rare if you're shit at your job or a lazy arse mutherfucker!
Hardly. A finance grad can work 60h weeks for $45k - this chump dropped out of high school and was earning $100k at 18 for unskilled labour.
I'm sorry, but whatever way you cut it, hard work does not necessarily remunerate equally. That's the world in which we live. I suppose you'd like to try justifying CEO salaries next.
So what you're saying is education = remuneration? I'm sorry but that's not how the world works. How does a finance grad "work harder" than a lobourer putting in 12hr days in 40 plus degree heat 7 days a week? He went to uni though! So fucking what.
What you get paid is should be tied directly to how much money you generate.
You do realise that a lot of this work is underground yeah? It gets hot as fuck 2km under the earths crust. Now while you're slowly baking to death you have cave in and machinery that will kill you or maime you in a heartbeat. That's why they make 200k, because unlike most of their office working Australians where having your laptop break is possibly the worst you'll encounter, not operating machines 2km underground.
like most things in life, they get their pound of flesh.
Isn't this also happening with tradies? Every time I have a conversation with a tradie my age at a pub they talk about how much money they are making.
So all the guys from my high school that smoked weed and barely passed are all wildly successful now because they learnt a trade rather than go to university.
I'm not sure if I'm misinterpreting your comment as scornful, but it's only the ones who have drive and motivation who succeed, and good on them.
Going to university is one path to success; there are plenty of others. (I never went to Uni and I have a "wildly successful" small business).
I don't begrudge anyone their success but I don't have to like tradies
TIL there's a term for these miners: CUB or "Cashed Up Bogan".
Oh well, at least sales of fully sik rims for Holden utes are up 3000% eh?
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CuB was a new one to me too.
Mate is a fly in fly out truck driver (Big Tonka toys) He does not make that but is doing well, Drives the trucks when the air con breaks and gets paid accordingly, other guys refuse to due to the 50+ temps.
His employer will pay, can pay, and surprisingly is staying in business. What is Rupert trying to insinuate - that these guys aren't worth their salt or should be taxed hard like other high earners?
Oh, wait ...
Wow the writer believed the $5 badge and called it a 'Chevy' Ute. Apparently there are actually people in this country that can't tell a commodore when they see one.
it's an american article (wall st journal)
Be warned if thinking about such a job. In my experience mine site culture mirrors what i suspect prison culture would be like. You get groups of drunk (probably drugged up) bogans going around yelling about how they're going to "smash some cunts" and spitting on people. I've also witnessed a ton of stupid domestic dispute crap.
I'm glad i'm only on the periphery of the industry (i work with remote monitoring solutions) so i don't have to deal with it on anymore than an occasional basis.
You certainly wouldn't want to live and work there unless you were really capable of fitting in with that type.
LOL @ probably drugged up. Each shift they're required to be breath tested and regular drug tests weed out the abusers.
Depends what you take, there are a myriad of drugs that aren't tested for and the saying when it comes to alcohol is 9 by 9 and you'll be fine , you can get pretty drunk on 9 beers believe me and then still blow 0.00 the next morning. One strategy is to take a sleeping pill and then drink 6 or 8 beers you'll be spastic pretty much but still blow zero.
That said I've been in the industry for nearly 14 years on a lot of sites and I've rarely seen the behaviour that AReallyGoodName is talking about ,it does happen on shift changes sometimes but those guys would be sacked instantly on most sites.
Would conspicuous consumption by educated people make you more comfortable? wsj.com caters to that market.
Yes. If only they'd let the poor mining companies bring in a flood of foreign workers, and not be subject to labour laws, that money could be going to their owners and executives, rather than scum like this.
This guy's flagrant purchase of a pretty cheap car and a fucking pet dog are making a mockery of capitalism. I mean, after buying their mansions, private jets, and luxury yachts, how is a CEO supposed to even buy new ferraris for their kids to replace the ones they crashed?
If they are willing to pay the plebs 200 a year. WTF are the execs getting?
Not being australian i'm not fussed who drives the coutnry.
but on a side not i hadn't realised the wsj had headed down that path on its readership. i was reading the comments on the article it is a pretty depressing cross section of soceity. I had always thought of it as a US version of the FT
The mining industry only accounts for 9% of Australia's GDP.
It's actually about a third less than that at <6%. Mining and agriculture contribute about 10%.
As I said on another topic earlier, the mining biz has the entire Australian populace that the mining industry is all that's keeping our economy afloat. The reality, however, is that we're driven predominately by the service sector and small business, not overpriced rocks in the ground.
It has more to do with the balance of trade, and this is important. We aren't living in one of the best countries in the world because of our ingenuity or work ethic. We are stupid and lazy.
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Hence why I think this article is full of shit.