CommTech Wireless

T

thegoons

Guest
TO: aus.electronics usenet newsgroup
and: jobs@commtechwireless.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away with
paying such low wages for this position:
http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&ChannelID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592

Shame on you.

Thegoons
 
thegoons wrote:

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away with
paying such low wages for this position:
http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&ChannelID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592

Shame on you.
Click to expand...
Looks like a junior tech role to me. They're not the first ones to skim as
close to the minimum wage border as possible either.

Sounds plausible when you put those two together, fresh workforce entrants
who don't know any better, coupled with being told "this is normal pay".

I'm sure we could all each list several outfits that do that.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>
 
thegoons wrote:
TO: aus.electronics usenet newsgroup
and: jobs@commtechwireless.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away
with paying such low wages for this position:

http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&Channe
Click to expand...
lID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592

Reading the description, the job looks a lot less skilled than one would
expect for a "Senior Electronics Technician" - rather it looks like they're
after a service monkey to fix broken pagers. I suspect they'll get what
they're paying for.

Russ.
 
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 19:05:47 +1000, "Russ" <nomail@hotmail.com> wrote:

thegoons wrote:
TO: aus.electronics usenet newsgroup
and: jobs@commtechwireless.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away
with paying such low wages for this position:

http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&Channe
lID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592

Reading the description, the job looks a lot less skilled than one would
expect for a "Senior Electronics Technician" - rather it looks like they're
after a service monkey to fix broken pagers. I suspect they'll get what
they're paying for.

Sad thing is, i was thinking about migrating to perth. I saw this add,
Click to expand...
and having dealt with Commtech in the past i thought I would look into
it. I saw the salary they were oferring and almost chocked. I hope
this doesn't reflect the current industry wages. I think i'll stay
with my MS programming. The software industry is still quiet, but the
pay isn't anywhere near that pathetic. Dotnet framework can still keep
paying my bills for a while.
 
"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2ls6tvFgk24eU1@uni-berlin.de...
Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away with
paying such low wages for this position:
Click to expand...
"Looked at a couple of your job ads. Seems like you msy have left the "US"
off the before the $ sign. The aus.electronics newsgroup has a couple of
links to your site, but it can be counterproductive to be seen as a joke in
your industry. "

Cheers,
Alf
 
Disgraceful, but not really surprising. I realized several years ago that
being an Electronics Technician was a dead-end. That's why I got the hell
out. Wages for techs have been virtually static for the last fifteen years,
and in some instances have gone backwards!

When I was a tech in the mid 80's I was earning about 27k as a base salary.
Senior techs were getting about 35k, and supervising techs about 42k at the
time, if I recall. And that was plus overtime, of which you could expect
quite a bit if you wanted it.

Here we are nearly twenty years later and we have a 'senior technician' role
being offered for 30k (let's say 33k if you include the super). What's the
bet that any overtime you are expected to do would be unpaid, as well. How
the hell can anyone enjoy a decent living on that? In the mid 80's a nice
house cost about 90k. The same house now would cost upwards of 320k. That is
a massive decrease in buying power in real terms.

What went wrong? Firstly the award has not kept up with inflation. I guess
poor union representation is to blame for that. Secondly, the base salary in
the award was formulated with the assumption that a significant proportion
of income would be derived from overtime. Many technician positions do not
offer overtime, or any overtime you do is unpaid. Thirdly, management seems
to regard an electronics technician as some kind of plebs job. Why? Who
knows? Ignorance I guess, coupled with the fact that electronics enthusiasts
were often happy to work in a field they loved, and the pay was of secondary
consideration. But good trained techs are now in very short supply because
the remuneration has fallen well below a reasonable level.

I used to know many talented and knowledgable techs. Almost to a man they
have left the industry, with the exception of those who are a little too old
to think about changing careers. It is very obvious that the general quality
of techs has declined significantly in recent years. Many of those who call
themselves techs these days are, dare I say it, "a bit sloooooow"!

When will businesses wake up to this? Time and again I have heard companies
complain that they can't fill tech positions or that the applicants they get
are useless. Well, pay peanuts get monkeys!

These days 45k would be the bare minimum salary for any sort of skilled
worker with formal qualifications and a few years experience. Any company
that is offering less than that is ripping people off and should be taken to
task for it!

Lionel...

thegoons <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2ls6tvFgk24eU1@uni-berlin.de...
TO: aus.electronics usenet newsgroup
and: jobs@commtechwireless.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away with
paying such low wages for this position:

http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&Channe
Click to expand...
lID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592
Shame on you.

Thegoons
Click to expand...
 
On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 02:30:29 +1000, "Lionel Theunissen"
<lionelth@big.net.au> wrote:

Disgraceful, but not really surprising. I realized several years ago that
being an Electronics Technician was a dead-end. That's why I got the hell
out. Wages for techs have been virtually static for the last fifteen years,
and in some instances have gone backwards!

When I was a tech in the mid 80's I was earning about 27k as a base salary.
Senior techs were getting about 35k, and supervising techs about 42k at the
time, if I recall. And that was plus overtime, of which you could expect
quite a bit if you wanted it.

Here we are nearly twenty years later and we have a 'senior technician' role
being offered for 30k (let's say 33k if you include the super). What's the
bet that any overtime you are expected to do would be unpaid, as well. How
the hell can anyone enjoy a decent living on that? In the mid 80's a nice
house cost about 90k. The same house now would cost upwards of 320k. That is
a massive decrease in buying power in real terms.

What went wrong? Firstly the award has not kept up with inflation. I guess
poor union representation is to blame for that. Secondly, the base salary in
the award was formulated with the assumption that a significant proportion
of income would be derived from overtime. Many technician positions do not
offer overtime, or any overtime you do is unpaid. Thirdly, management seems
to regard an electronics technician as some kind of plebs job. Why? Who
knows? Ignorance I guess, coupled with the fact that electronics enthusiasts
were often happy to work in a field they loved, and the pay was of secondary
consideration. But good trained techs are now in very short supply because
the remuneration has fallen well below a reasonable level.

I used to know many talented and knowledgable techs. Almost to a man they
have left the industry, with the exception of those who are a little too old
to think about changing careers. It is very obvious that the general quality
of techs has declined significantly in recent years. Many of those who call
themselves techs these days are, dare I say it, "a bit sloooooow"!

When will businesses wake up to this? Time and again I have heard companies
complain that they can't fill tech positions or that the applicants they get
are useless. Well, pay peanuts get monkeys!

These days 45k would be the bare minimum salary for any sort of skilled
worker with formal qualifications and a few years experience. Any company
that is offering less than that is ripping people off and should be taken to
task for it!

Lionel...
Click to expand...
Hows things Lionel. Techs like you are more invaluable than engineers!
Hows work going these days? Not the same without me!!!
 
I'm based in Perth and have been doing the job change thing a bit over
the last couple of years.

The going rate for a good tech seems to be $40k/45k.
Lower skilled techs doing on on the road service work seem to get $40k
to $50k.
There are a few places that will hire a tech in an engineering role
paying $50k / $60k, they get their moneys worth as you mentioned the
OT is usually unpaid and 50+ hours is the average week.

Job ads we place for techs usually only attract young guys with TAFE
qualifications in IT. Its odd but there is also usually an application
from someone with a EE masters - I guess they are either not that
useful or they are looking for a short term coasting position.

What is annoying is the people around doing rote clerical jobs - 38
hrs per week for the same money who bitch about how poorly paid they
are.

Tech's used to be tech's - Telstra had a hand in degrading the role
years ago when they made Assistant Techs up to techs - I think this
was part of a pay restructuring deal with the union.

The places that pay crap $ to techs are pretty well known. They
usually have high staff turnover rates which must cost them dearly,
but I guess this loss is a little intangible so they do not recognise
it.

rob


On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 02:30:29 +1000, "Lionel Theunissen"
<lionelth@big.net.au> wrote:

Disgraceful, but not really surprising. I realized several years ago that
being an Electronics Technician was a dead-end. That's why I got the hell
out. Wages for techs have been virtually static for the last fifteen years,
and in some instances have gone backwards!

When I was a tech in the mid 80's I was earning about 27k as a base salary.
Senior techs were getting about 35k, and supervising techs about 42k at the
time, if I recall. And that was plus overtime, of which you could expect
quite a bit if you wanted it.

Here we are nearly twenty years later and we have a 'senior technician' role
being offered for 30k (let's say 33k if you include the super). What's the
bet that any overtime you are expected to do would be unpaid, as well. How
the hell can anyone enjoy a decent living on that? In the mid 80's a nice
house cost about 90k. The same house now would cost upwards of 320k. That is
a massive decrease in buying power in real terms.

What went wrong? Firstly the award has not kept up with inflation. I guess
poor union representation is to blame for that. Secondly, the base salary in
the award was formulated with the assumption that a significant proportion
of income would be derived from overtime. Many technician positions do not
offer overtime, or any overtime you do is unpaid. Thirdly, management seems
to regard an electronics technician as some kind of plebs job. Why? Who
knows? Ignorance I guess, coupled with the fact that electronics enthusiasts
were often happy to work in a field they loved, and the pay was of secondary
consideration. But good trained techs are now in very short supply because
the remuneration has fallen well below a reasonable level.

I used to know many talented and knowledgable techs. Almost to a man they
have left the industry, with the exception of those who are a little too old
to think about changing careers. It is very obvious that the general quality
of techs has declined significantly in recent years. Many of those who call
themselves techs these days are, dare I say it, "a bit sloooooow"!

When will businesses wake up to this? Time and again I have heard companies
complain that they can't fill tech positions or that the applicants they get
are useless. Well, pay peanuts get monkeys!

These days 45k would be the bare minimum salary for any sort of skilled
worker with formal qualifications and a few years experience. Any company
that is offering less than that is ripping people off and should be taken to
task for it!

Lionel...

thegoons <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2ls6tvFgk24eU1@uni-berlin.de...
TO: aus.electronics usenet newsgroup
and: jobs@commtechwireless.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Are you a registered charity? Just wondering how you try and get away with
paying such low wages for this position:

http://it.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=80&PageNumber=1&Channe
lID=4&SiteID=1&JobId=3820592

Shame on you.

Thegoons
Click to expand...
 
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