Thread: Offered a machine shop job but shocked at the pay offer

Gees Keith,
That's what I get and I'm 2 pay levels higher than the rest of the qualified tradesman here.
Not feeling great now.
Pay for our skill level is atrocious.

Phil

My brother runs a mill, lathe and a fairly large horizontal borer, mostly all at the same time, by himself, and I think he is on 26 bucks an hour.

If you want to work out on site you can get good money but once a roof goes over your head you are paid much the same as all the other serf's.

You get a guide of what weekly wages are from here PayCheck Plus - Fair Work Ombudsman

I'm a leading hand in a machine shop and I only get about that much. Most of the stuff I do is pretty big so a stuff up costs thousands in material. Machine shop pay rated really can't be any higher because we will be uncompetitive , then there will be no jobs.

Thanks for the replies lads.

The shop owner is having a bad run with his present guys. First one he got passed away. The one he now has is starting his own business (wonder why) and isn't available full time. Advertising for new blood has not been very fruitful (wonder why), then I came on the scene.

I've talked to several guys who used to have this type of job but left. One of them is in our street. He told me his reason for leaving was the low pay. Crazy thing is this is a job requiring knowledge, skill, and most importantly concentration due to the costs/consequences of screwups. Wonder where the future of Australian job shops is heading, maybe more tiny ones with one guy owning and running the show.

Before kids, my wife worked in a coffee shop and got $19/hr, makes $26/hr in a machine shop rather shocking.

Keith.

Hi beefy,

Sorry if it sounds a bit sarcastic, but who cares in this country about your knowledge, experience, mortgage, ect.
if virtually all manufacturing or even making a very simple things went overseas. Whatever's left struggles with cheap crappy imports.. but looks like this is what most Australians want. Otherwise we would have much more products to choose from. Its simply demand and supply rule in action. As it was disscused on this forum not long ago... they only supply us what we are willing to pay for. IMHO it doesnt take too long when all machining in Australia would be reduced to hobbyst level only. Unfortunately.

That's also a 'good' pay rate for most mechanics, diesel guys can get a bit more. In fact it seems pretty common across most trades, outside of construction. Makes you wonder who works out the 'average wages' in this country, because not too many people I know (until recently at least) earned even close to what is apparently an average wage.

Added to that is the cost of living increasing far quicker than wages - I have a gas bill here that is 50% more than one from 4 years ago, despite the usage being the same. Anyone here had a 50% pay increase over the last 4 years?

It's a big part of the reason I gave up being a mechanic after 10 years, and have taken up another apprenticeship as an electrician in construction. About the only way I could see to actually get ahead financially instead of falling further and further behind.

I am a second year apprentice I make 12.50 an hour. My friend works at bunnies he makes $20 with more teenager friendly hours. I am also in the class with tool makers in tafe and there are 10 second year toolmaker apprenticess in Sydney
Also tafe will go up from $600 a year to $4000 a year next year.

Ps I have a friend who's first year mechanic on $6 an hour.

$810/week in hand?

Jesus, send me the job, I'll happily take that!
That's about $100~150 over what I get on an average week, and I'm on casual rates, so no sick leave or holiday pay!

Personally, I believe you just need some perspective. This job of mine is after 8 months of unemployment, and this time 'round I'm also managing to put extra into my mortgage.
You could also consider selling the kids, I've heard they can fetch enough to pay off an entire house if you find the right buyers. Just build a silent one in the workshop

Hi,

I work for defence, the big green type, I internally changed jobs a couple of years ago for various reasons one being civilian employment after my time in the green machine. I chose fitter machinist because i liked working with machines and weapons and thought I be able to get plenty of work on the outside.
As much as I like being a machinist (which I don't really do much of at work) and armourer (do plenty off) I realized very quickly that doing a metal trade was probably the wrong choice. Whilst doing a year of civilian trade training I was sadly disappointed when I found out I was earning more as an unqualified apprentice on a training wage than a toolmaker of 20 plus years experience! There where two or three NC & CNC operators who I out earn't.
I've been offered a few jobs both full-time and part-time but the FT jobs wouldn't pay the bills and feed the kids and the PT jobs wouldn't be worth it for me. I think it's a sad state of affairs that we are in.

Ben.

Holy crap! So much for the thought of re-training as a machinist.

I was on $4.60/hr as a first year apprentice 20 years ago!

My neighbor runs a home machine shop, gets what he asks and has more work than he knows what to do with. I now understand why he puts up with the business red tape and paperwork!

Originally Posted by welder

Ps I have a friend who's first year mechanic on $6 an hour.

Really? It was $6.22 an hour almost 11 years ago here in Victoria, and I'm sure it's gone up a bit now (maybe closer to $8?) - surely NSW can't be that far behind? Or is that after tax?

Sorry Its $7 and he works 50 hours a week

I left the trade 20 years ago, once I finished my time. I was offered close to that then. I got sick of being inside and went farming. I worked harder and more hours but enjoyed it. I started filling up sheds with machines at high school already and they came in real handy farming. We were paying people that much as farmers with experience but no formal qualifications. I didn't realise the pay hadn't kept up but that could be to do with the number of jobs available in the cities now with manufacturing reducing so much. The places I worked aren't there now.

You can not find a mechanic shop around here that would work for less then $100 an hour...

So why is the cost of wages and the cost the consumer pays is so great...

I have a working theory it is because of the cost to run a business and the thousand rules and regulations in place that have to be complied with which costs huge money...

I know where I am, there is no way we could legally employ anyone as our workplace would be considered so dangerous we are unable to comply..
It is not that our workplace is dangerous, but that society's expectations have changed so much they expect us to either comply with the rules, or the industry should cease to exist and go to another country and import the product.. Which leads to less jobs, more people on welfare (as there are no jobs for them to do any more)

Having done some minor work in a more mainstream job, I found the paperwork and regulations are massive and require employees just to be employed solely to comply with government (society) mandated rules and regulations..

It is easy to complain about wages we get, but we are all part of the problem, and there is no solution that would satisfy everyone..