UNEMPLOYED?

UNEMPLOYED?  Why won’t small operators take you on, when they need more staff?

This blog won’t help you, I’m afraid, but it may explain why it’s so hard to get a job.

HERE’S THE SITUATION:

THERE’S NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF PRIVATE ENTEPRENEURIAL INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA; business is not encouraged by government, unless it’s extraction of our resources by foreign companies for sale overseas.  We even have to pay exorbitant prices for stuff dug out of our own ground.

All credit to local manufacturers and businesses for employing staff: it’s a nightmare of bureaucracy.  But out there in self-employed land there are thousands of workers desperate for extra pairs of hands.  They can not give jobs, nor can they employ even an offsider.

WHY IS THIS SO?

A SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON WOULD NEED A SECRETARY AND A SOLICITOR TO COPE WITH THE THE ADDED LOAD OF RESPONSIBILITY, BOTH LEGAL AND PRACTICAL, to cope with the paperwork required to legitimately hire an offsider.

Every obstacle is put in the way of taking on an employee, and employers are at huge risk of retribution should the slightest mistake occur either regarding the bureaucratic or workplace-safety  aspects of employment. SO NO WOULD-BE EMPLOYER IS GAME TO MAKE THE EFFORT, if he or she is self-employed and needs help. What a terrible situation, and it is country-wide.

THE INVALUABLE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL ATTAINED BY THE EMPLOYEE, AND THE WAGES EARNED WHILST IN EMPLOYMENT, ARE THE LEAST-RECOGNISED  BENEFITS.

The only satisfactory way of avoiding the nightmare of responsibility, litigation, fines and loss of licence-to-operate is to ensure that anyone helping in your business is also self-employed, self-insured, with an ABN etc., and totally self-sufficient in every way, paying their own tax, driving their own vehicle, in fact another self-employed person to whom work is parceled out to, and who is paid as a contractor.

WHEN A YOUNG BLOKE OR WOMAN TURNS UP AT YOUR CURRENT WORKPLACE, ASKING IF THERE’S JOB, WHAT DO YOU TELL THEM?  The fact that they have got off their arse and fronted up is usually sufficient qualification; you know they are keen, and will learn, and will work, and you know that they may become a regular employee and help with your workload, and perhaps add a little to your income, for that is the idea of employing others.  Well, knowing the stress and extra work put on yourself, plus the huge responsibility, and the fact that, far from being a help and income-booster, your new employee will be an extra weight on your shoulders and consume much of your productive time, you say ‘NO’ right away. No job. No work here. Sorry. Good luck. Even though you know he or she would be very useful and worthwhile to further the project you are working on.  Either you say ‘NO’, and get the depressing meeting over quickly, or you say, ‘Look, yes, you could help here; go out, get yourself an ABN, get yourself personal insurance, income protection, third party liability insurance, do a course and get certified in workplace health and safety, et cetera et cetera, get your own tools, transport, frighten the poor kid away, who has no idea what you’re talking about, and who says, ‘I just want a job’.

If the would-be employee bites the bullet, does the research, and assembles all the paraphernalia necessary to become a bona-fide self-employed person, the responsibility of absolutely no-one as far as litigation is concerned, then he or she can find work, but note, NOT employment, but as a contractor. This happy situation is enjoyed by thousands of Australians, but is in jeopardy if the glare of the spoilers becomes focused, for in no way can it be accepted by the administration of government.

If the proliferation of regulations regarding employer-employee relations was entirely the burden of the regulators, not the employers, the way would be open for vast numbers of unemployed to find work.  The boss would find the work, the pay and the training; the regulators would handle all the paperwork,  the responsibility and of course, the cost. The employee would liase entirely with the regulatory bureaucracy.  The boss has the vital, all-important job, which no government department can do: the boss supplies the work and the the pay and the experience.

How many one- and two-man businesses are there in Australia that used to offer work, both full- and part-time to anyone who seemed acceptable?  These businesses now have no employees, because the excessive load in time and responsibility makes being an employer unviable.  Work is available, pay is available, learning experience is available, but small operators will not hire staff.  Legislation, litigation, bureaucracy, workplace-health-and-safety, insurance, sick pay, holidays and holiday-loading, apprenticeship schemes, portable long-service leave, all these are an impossible burden to the small operator, and the situation is even worse if the employee is Aboriginal, when much of the associated paperwork is followed by serious threats to the employer for non-compliance.  Before this mass of restrictions became endemic, before workplace health and safety was invented by the government departments, along with every other legislation churned out by officious public ‘servants’, an Australian bloke could take on a young fellow and teach him a trade, and look after him, and warn him of the dangers of the job, and instill a sense of self-preservation: one hand for the ship, one hand for yourself, as the seamen of sail were taught.  Of course there is danger in almost any job.  Legislating for safety makes mindless idiots of un-taught workers, who now behave as if their own survival is someone else’s problem, and an opportunity to claim huge sums for injury; and it happens. One or two accidents occurring in a workforce, though tragic, can destroy the employers in question, because no matter what the facts are, the employer takes the blame and retribution.  The fact is that it is impossible to avoid accidents, no matter what regime of safety is in place: that is why they are called ‘accidents’.  The entire convoluted chain of responsibility is simply in order to have someone to blame, and consequently sue, and is in part a construction of the litigation industry.  If a worker steps off the scaffold into space, someone must take the blame.

SO, THOUGH THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT AN ENVIRONMENT OF RIGOROUSLY-APPLIED SAFETY MEASURES HAS REDUCED ACCIDENTS, THESE MEASURES HAVE REDUCED EMPLOYMENT BY THE SAME PERCENTAGE: FEWER EMPLOYED, FEWER ACCIDENTS.

The days of freedom have gone. Trades and skills have disappeared due to the impossibility of taking on apprentices.  The situation forces skilled men and women into self-employment, their knowledge evaporating into retirement.

INSTEAD OF GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY LOADING EMPLOYERS WITH ENDLESSLY-EXPANDING REGULATIONS, THIS VAST ENGINE OF OFFICE-WORK COULD ITSELF TAKE ON THE RESPONSIBILITY IT CURRENTLY LOADS ONTO BUSINESS.  A DEPARTMENT DEVOTED ENTIRELY TO PUTTING INTO EFFECT ITS OWN REGULATIONS, AND ALLOWING BUSINESS, OR PERHAPS SPECIFICALLY SMALL BUSINESS, TO GET ON WITH THE JOB OF CREATING WORK AND EMPLOYING WORKERS.

Individual workers would have have all their bureaucratic requirements taken care of by the very departments that demand these requirements.

Since writing this (from the perspective of the building trade) I have had a similar reaction from others working in entirely different fields; printing, dairying, for example.  Small businesses throughout Australia are struggling along, making ends meet, earning enough to get by without employing help.  Instead of growing incomes and expanding industries, these small operations are disappearing as their owners retire.  Why is this so?  Not because their work is unviable; given free rein these one- and two-man operations could expand and develop in the market, their principals freed to explore new possibilities, thus engendering further employment and local sales.

In this stultifying environment, the entepreneurial instinct is nipped in the bud.  The promising green shoots of future industries are crushed by the weight of bureaucratic interference and demands.  Everyone knows and complains.  Everyone has known and has complained for generations since the early days of industry.  The dark, satanic mills are gone (except in China) but the regulators press on, their own industry of repression now bent on regulating all enterprise out of existence.

There are government programs devoted to getting young people work.  Businesses are constantly offered incentives to take on staff, but for the small operator no incentive is sufficient to overcome the burden demanded by regulation.  The most effective incentive to small business is relief from regulation.  The nanny requirements block the road to employment.  A great idea requiring staff is up against a blockade of legislation, supposedly designed to protect the employee, but in fact rendering employment impossible without limitless resources.  A small family business could take on staff and expand, if it could afford also to hire unproductive accountants and secretaries to cope with the extraneous requirements of over-government.

The problem is that the regulations concerning staff employment in a vast mining operation are also applied to a one-man business.  Obviously the small business can not cope. Obviously.  The mine will close, the staff will lose their jobs.  The one-man business, of necessity, will run for a lifetime.  A lifetime of training and wages is being lost, ten thousand times over, to the unemployed of Australia.

 

 

REMEDIAL WORK FOR STEEL POST/SLAB CORROSION

SHS (square hollow section) STEEL CORROSION  AT CONCRETE SLAB PENETRATION.

phone photos 706        This is a problem caused by electrolysis,  where a steel post, flash-coated with zinc, is in contact with concrete, damp, and air.

In most cases the SHS is in good condition within a few centimetres of the surface of the embedding concrete, rusting taking place at the junction.

In concrete slab construction, for decades it was allowable to have the SHS posts exposed at the slab perimeter, with no insulation.  Properly hot-dipped galvanised posts survive longer in this situation, but unprotected posts straight from the shop are susceptible, esphone photos 704pecially when soil, garden-beds, et cetera are built up against the footings.

THE FIX is tedious and time-consuming.

1)  Clear all obstructions (paths, bricks, garden, sheds, water tanks etc..) from around each steel post.

2)  Excavate a good-sized hole (say 500mm square at least) exposing the post where it penetrates the slab, down to the concrete footing.  This could be any depth.

3)  The extent of the corrosion should now be apparent.  In the event that the post has completely rusted through, read further, but in most cases it is now necessary to expose the rust area by chipping away concrete both at the slab and footing until clean steel appears.  Use a small rotary hammer with a 25mm chisel.  This will entail creating a shallow pit in the footing around the post.

phone photos 705The necessity of having a good-sized hole in which to work will now be obvious: all debris must be cleaned out neatly.

4)  Having exposed the post to clean steel, chip off all loose rust.  A rattler attachment on the hammer-drill is ideal.  It is not necessary to grind down to bright steel.  Clean out the hole; a drum vacuum-cleaner is useful.

5)  Coat the post with phosphoric acid (a Rust-Converter type of product), which will pool in a beneficial way at the footing. Brush the liquid phone photos 707liberally for a few minutes, then leave to dry, when it will form a protective coating, slightly glossy.   Any termite-proofing that may be exposed should be left undamaged if possible.

6)  At this stage prepare steel boxing that will contain concrete which will case the exposed post from the footing to the slab-capping.  Order a top-hat section of sheet (say 0.75mm)  that can be trimmed to the lengths needed for each post.  The section must be 300mm wide and 100mm deep, with flanges of say 50mm against the slab. Corners need a bigger section, shaped similarly to cover the post 100mm thick and extending 100mm on each side.  Order the stuff in long lengths and cut off what you need.

7)  When each post has its boxing prepared and tested, have ready a good mix of waterproof concrete 10mm blend with some added Bond-Crete.  Brush-coat Bond-Crete onto the post and surrounding concrete, put the boxing in place and carefully back-fill to hold it there.  Fill the boxing with the concrete mix, and slope the top to just under the capping.  Thphone photos 712ere is no reason why this boxing should not stay in place: it’s an added chore to remove later.  Perhaps use Color-bond.  Job done.

Whether this 100mm cladding of concrete requires any anchor-bolts is a point, but the Bond-Crete usually makes a satisfactory adhesion.  Time will tell.  It’s a bodge anyway, trying to fix a bad initiaphone photos 708l design.  Posts now must be well-wrapped at penetration to prevent electrolysis, and encased in concrete, not exposed at slab-edge.

POSTS RUSTED THROUGH;  Should this be the situation, the only answer is welding.  Free-standing SHS posts into individual footings phone photos 710often separate completely, unseen and buried in soil.  A total replacement bolted onto the original footing  (the hole filled with concrete) is quicker than a repair.  If the post is part of the house structure, repair is the only fix.  Blast away the slab and footing as above, to expose good steel, grind it clean, cut some corner sections from an offcut of SHS and weld them like splints to the post.  Then rust-converter etc. as above.

phone photos 713I have photos of this process, taken for the benefit of the building inspector, and following the advice of a friendly engineer.  I’ll try and get them up.

We’re all learning here.

Victor Sanderson, artist, Merseyside to Australia, 1940-98

Victor Sanderson, artist, born New Brighton, Wirral, Merseyside, England, died Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia.

I was vacuuming the house today, not a completely rare event, when guilt set in as the Dyson sucked carefully around two of Victor’s old pictures leaning against the wall by the piano.  A pointiliste of Tewantin at the riverside, and a careful and detailed pencil drawing of familiar figures at an early jazz convention in the setting of a picnic area at Mt Coot-Tha in Brisbane.  I should have framed them ages ago.  Both pictures are slightly battered as a result of their travels and neglect, but treasures nevertheless.  Victor was a fine artist.

Guilt has prompted me finally to start typing, without preparation, without research, and from my impoverished and moth-eaten memory.

The Dyson today provided the usual valuable purple-speckled fluff: enough for two sweaters.

Before writing, I Googled his name: sadly, and criminally, there is no match.  Many victor sandersons, of course, one an artist, but no mention of my dear friend, whose work, spread thinly around the globe, would stand with any Van Goch in any gallery.

I would write that Victor was a talented artist, but that implies other occupations, dilletantism: Victor was only an artist. He knew nothing more, and all his life he lived for his work, and by his work, and provided for his two families with the tools of his trade.

He excelled in all fields, two- and three-dimensional. Drawing in pencil, charcoal, conte, ink; painting in every medium imaginable, and sculpting in stone, plaster, concrete, cast iron, wood, and any substance that suited his current idea.  In Brisbane’s gardens and on verandas stand many sandstone sculptures that are treasured by their owners, and unmistakeable in their style.  Most were bought or commissioned at knock-down prices in order for Vic to pay the rent and buy food for the children: his art was his only sustenance.

To be continued. This is a preface to a properly-researched and detailed account of Victor’s life and work, and a pictorial record of every example of his art that can be found in Australia and Britain.  In this I hope to have the assistance and input of his daughter Sunny Sanderson, and his old friend Dr. Peter Freeman.  Sunny may also have her doctorate by now, and may be Sanderson no longer:  all will be checked.

This gets me started.  All input, both good and bad and hilarious, will be welcomed: andrewljenner@gmail.com  ………don’t forget the’l’.