logiclee

Adrian,

Industrial Sparkies and high voltage sparkies are a bit harder to come by than sparkies for household/domestic/building trade.

We have recently set on in the Birmingham area a number of time served electricians with HNC/HND level qualification with experience on systems upto 11000V and have had to pay around £40k
In Nottinghamshire I know the Electricty board has advertised 3 times for senior engineers on HT equipment without any suitable candidates.

The company I work for is currently reviewing the wage structure and employment conditions to try and prevent the loss of craftsmen from the industry.

Cheers
Lee

kammy

Hi,
I have just done some summer work, working for highway maintance. Dont want to say where abouts just incase etc (i was a temp) i worked my ducking ar$e off for £150 a week after tax (which gets returned) so looking a £220 a week.(£5.50/hour for digging etc) The full time guys where talking home £29-£32k per year, which is pretty damm good for no degree etc. Lets hope my degree ends in a good pay or i will be fuming and in £10k debt
kam

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Self-employed van drivers in central London courier trade earn around £400-£500 pw GROSS, out of which needs to come fuel, van cost, insurance, maintenance, cc etc. Hence why some people rent/lease vans off the company. Costs on this vary between £70 - £200 pw + you still have fuel to pay @ £100 week (around).

You get paid per job that you do and need to put in a minimum 10 hr day to get your "attendance" bonus.

Its a tough job and the money is not that great, hence why you might get PS's abusive WMV driver as he scrabbles around for jobs.


We on the other hand, track our vehicles at all times. Clocked exceeding the 30 mile an hour limit the 1st time = verbal warning, 2nd = written, 3rd = sacked (applies all speed limits). NIPs are dealt with in a simillar fashion (traffic lights, bus lanes). In addition, all vehicles must leave our depot immaculate and damage comes out of the drivers wages. Harsh but fair.

On the reverse side of that, as we track our vehicles, so can our clients. They can see that the driver is making reasonable progress with their package, know that we cannot defy the laws of the land/physics/traffic so they have nothing to complain about.

So, we get happy unstressed drivers with clean licences, happy clients and we keep our maintenance and fuel costs down.

salsa-king

where is that? what day care centre is it (LeapFrog etc?)
i've had two G/F's who work in Day Care looking after babies... neither of them (both with NVQ3/NNB) earned more than £10k a year... even the officer in charge didn't see £25k!

pslewis

I guess I'm lucky then?

Fair wage, Flexitime (work the hours to suit as long as you are in between 10-12 and then again 2-4pm), Free Final salary Pension, 33 days leave + 26 days FlexiLeave - 59 days a year, nice quality of life here in North Hampshire.

I am struggling to see how we offer all of the above with a starting salary of £45k, for the right canditate, and we cannot find anyone!?

Its the old adage isn't it? If you can only do a job which EVERYONE can do then you will get crap money .......................... do a job where there are very few and you will get rewarded.

I mean, driving a white van and being a dick doesn't really test the best does it now?

Pete

ChrisB

You'd have to pay people £100k p/a to even think about working with you Pete

john_s

iTrader: (1)

At work, we pay our unskilled labour £6.18/hour (construction industry).

John.

sparkykev

This rumour that plumbers/electricians earn £80k is a complete joke, and all those that are dropping out of their high flying city banking jobs are in for a shock when unless they go into 24hr call outs stinging people for £200 for changing a fuse/tap washer, they're going to find they will struggle to reach £20k working for someone else, which they will need to do to enable them to gain any practical experience.
As a spark, believe me the money's sh1te, for the responsibility, and knowledge you need plus the anti-social hours, travelling, the h&s risks etc. And also some of the crappy places you end up being sent, ie sewerage works, abattoirs, cow sheds, to some dog filled flat with sh1te all over the carpet.
I suppose one bonus is, no two days are the same.

ScoobyDoo555

It could be said that this whole thing about job selection is a big like "natural selection" - like Pete says, some just loaf off others (aka "Sponges")

Some find their natural vocation, whether it be a van driver or "Ar$e wiper"

Some do jobs that have a positive affect on the planet - health, education etc

Some do jobs that could destroy us - missile designers etc......

And people brag about earning so much money that debt etc isn't a problem. Loads of time off/holiday. So what? no good if you're dead

Now THAT should stir it up a bit (I hope!)

Dan

logiclee

Sparkykev,

You need to retrain and get into high voltage stuff, thats where the money is at the moment.

Cheers
Lee

skiddus_markus

Again,I won't take offence at your ignorance and sweeping generalisations.As your not likely to try it,you'll probably never know if it will test you.
I left school with 10 GCSE's and 3 A levels and plenty of common sense(don't count the AS)so hardly stupid,but never really had any direction and after a stint of self employed couriering ended up doing this to pay the bills.
The money I earn easily pays my mortgage-a 3 bedroomed semi in a decent area where I live goes for around £130k but I paid less than half of that nearly 3 years ago,so I don't actually need to earn a lot to live.
I also earn more than some of my friends with degrees which tells you how low the wages are around the area I live(Derbyshire).My best mate moved down to a nice little village near the M25,earns around £80k a year but lives in a smaller house than I do and has a similar disposable income,so it's relative really.
PTMW-self employed drivers where at the place I work average around £600-1k p/w with runnig costs of around £150-200 p/w so pay them more you tight git

logiclee

I don't think Pete is ignorant of that mate.

Not many people know Pete's past but I'll go as far as saying he used to be based in the North doing a job that most people on here wouldn't have the ***** to do for not a great wage.

Cheers
Lee

skiddus_markus

Drag queen in a miners welfare?;-)

chris's scooby

Police?

Claudius

That wouldnt be legal to pay anybody here. What's the minimum wage in your country?

NotoriousREV

I used to struggle to make ends meet on £30k plus company car. Then I got made redundant. Now I'm earning considerably less while getting my own company off the ground and the thought of earning £30k a year is the equivalent of winning the lottery, LOL

paulr

we pay labourers 4.50 an hour.its not just the low pay,unfortunately they get treated like $hit too.

Graz

Similar salary but without all the benifits, if I can design satellite telephones nukes can't be that hard

50k + all the above? Might take a while to get up to speed

Ringpeas

Lab technicians

Spent 4 years of graft at college to get a HNC in Chemistry.

The average starting wage for a qualified one with experience is about £11 to 17k depending on the industry.
There are folks with PhD's in the labs on less than £20K

What a mistake to make
8 years of university etc and you earn the same as a van driver (no offence)

If only I could go back and start again

suprabeast

I'll come work for you for 45k !

Ted Maul

what's the average wage in London? f**k, 25k down here would see you on the streets!

salsa-king

times that by three to get a mortgage!! £75k buys you in London??????

Ted Maul

a mobile 1 bed trailer out in romford...

ProperCharlie

Jeez - if we did that to our drivers there'd be a fookin mutiny. Next time one of 'em says "I've got a wife and three kids, how am I supposed to live on £xxx per week?" I'll tell 'em to try working for you, Puff.

Could you send me over a few application forms and I'll leave them in the mess room.

SyHightower

iTrader: (1)

what the freak does that mean??

People classed me as a dirty salesman type cos i sold mobility equiptment to the elderly in there own homes on a commission only sallary.
Just been going through my expenses with my accounant turns out driving about 1000 miles a week in a scooby for a year with high insurance costs is quite expensive. (about £13 fukcing GRAND)

Changed jobs 4 months ago, took a ~£25K pay drop but im in a permenant position with car etc., now my wifes happy we can go on holiday without it effectivly costing double.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

PC

Apps on the website m8

http://www.ecourier.co.uk

Thinking about it, less maintenance on your vans & less accident damage = more money in the company coffers to give to the workers - if you're half-way decent that is

+ the damage on your reputation as they speed around, cutting up the decision makers is not worth it - especially in my game.

pbee

I dont actually think it matters how much money you earn as you live to your means.

Im in a ok job, 50k+ with benefits exspnse account, car/health/pension/bonus/shares ect.

But i fell no better off than when I earnt half that amount. But I have noticed how much more we have been taxed over the past few years and how everything is getting ludicrously exsepnsive. I cant imagine living on less than 20k.

Anybody in the situation where they cannot survive on their wages and is sinking deeper into debt each month without anything to show for it needs serious help.

J C

what do you do to earn £1000 a week?

mattsan

Pimp?

pbee

build big networks for broadcasting tv on around the world, Im currently in Mexico City.

Its a tough job, nah who am i kidding its easy just very political.