Under payed?

[nz paul]

Why as skilled Arborists/tree surgeons/foresters are we so poorly payed?

Nearly all the jobs i see advertised have very poor pay rates?Company's looking for employee's with every ticket under the sun and want to pay them £8-9 an hour.I think we have a very skilled dangerous profession,yet are very rarely rewarded for it.

Im sure this thread has come up many times before but thought i would address it again.

 

Opinion's?

Thoughts?

[Joy Yeomans]

Is 9 per hour poor when alot cant get a job and bosses price jobs to get them against companies who undercut we as employers pay all the costs and have all the headaches and have to find employees holiday pay training costs ppe etc

 

Try being a boss id love to be paid 8 per hour finish at 5 not have to work late or weekends have 28 days paid holiday and ask for new boots and trousers when ive buggered them and not have to repair owt as thats the bosses problem

 

Just my little rant

Joy

 

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Tapatalk 2

[skip]

the root of the problem is that our industry doesnt charge enough, it doesnt know how to, the only way out IMO is for the industry to start taking it's self seriously and present it's self as a highly skilled profession.

 

That means complying with every bit of red tape under the sun & taking pride in doing so, think about it, read some of the threads on here "loler inspection is a load of bul**** i know whats safe" "risk assesment is a pointless box ticking exercise!" "NPTC's dont need sh** i've been doing this job since i were a nipper" think how that looks to a member of the public coming on here for a read to do some backgroud reading on the industry to help them choose a contractor. all they'll take away is that tree surgery is a 'craft' not a skill or profession shame on all those that write such things on here where the public can read it

[Mick Stockbridge]

Yeah I think £9 an hour is fair. Most day's you'll be sitting in the truck for an average of two hours driving from one place to another so in real terms you'll only work for seven hours max bumping up your hourly rate to £11.57 an hour......

[Tony.Price]

Why as skilled Arborists/tree surgeons/foresters are we so poorly payed?

Nearly all the jobs i see advertised have very poor pay rates?Company's looking for employee's with every ticket under the sun and want to pay them £8-9 an hour.I think we have a very skilled dangerous profession,yet are very rarely rewarded for it.

Im sure this thread has come up many times before but thought i would address it again.

 

Opinion's?

Thoughts?

 

These are hard times and employers are having to cut costs to compete with the onslaught of new small businesses (1man bands) we are seeing crop up in their hundreds (around here anyway).

 

I cannot compete in the private market any more, there are just to many silly prices being given. Often the prices given by some contractors around here are less than my wage role for a days work:thumbdown:

[Joe Loggs]

Yeah I think £9 an hour is fair. Most day's you'll be sitting in the truck for an average of two hours driving from one place to another so in real terms you'll only work for seven hours max bumping up your hourly rate to £11.57 an hour......

 

Driving is still part of the job! It's tiring at the end of the day If you have a long slog home and especially in and out of London it's not just a matter of sitting in a truck if it was then we would all be delivery drivers. I think£9 a hour is a pi#% take considering how dangerous are job can be and how much training we have to put into it.

[Joy Yeomans]

the root of the problem is that our industry doesnt charge enough, it doesnt know how to, the only way out IMO is for the industry to start taking it's self seriously and present it's self as a highly skilled profession.

 

That means complying with every bit of red tape under the sun & taking pride in doing so, think about it, read some of the threads on here "loler inspection is a load of bul**** i know whats safe" "risk assesment is a pointless box ticking exercise!" "NPTC's dont need sh** i've been doing this job since i were a nipper" think how that looks to a member of the public coming on here for a read to do some backgroud reading on the industry to help them choose a contractor. all they'll take away is that tree surgery is a 'craft' not a skill or profession shame on all those that write such things on here where the public can read it

 

we comply with every bit of red tape, we pay for training and pay wages whilst our employees are being trained - we fulfil all time taken to do risk assessments and the background to fulfil risk assessments our insurances is not in hundreds its thousands, we take pride in what we do BUT we are in a recession where men who are skilled have been made redundant in thousands of industries and who have possibly operated chainsaws in the past now try their hand at our industry and cut corners possibly or their costs are lower - thats what we are up against

in forestry work - it is low paid, as the end product has had a poor value made worse by timber sat at rideside getting lighter when customers dont send in wagons asap, estate managers take the profit from grant funded work for themselves instead of passing on to contractors, thefts of timber and unscrupulous timber hauliers reduce contractors tonnages

do you want me to go on

well i guess you know now how i feel on this subject:thumbdown:

 

joy - would love to be employed please and paid a decent wage - but stuck working for my slavedriving husband:lol:

[Andy Collins]

A highly skilled profession is that of a neurologist, a nuclear physicist or an astronaut, not a tree surgeon. It's a semi skilled trade, not even in the same league as a gas fitter, or an electrician. The average tree surgeon will climb more small trees than large, and will only occasionally be in a dangerous situation, and most of those are avoidable with the correct procedures and equipment. A dangerous profession is an Explosive Ordinance Officer, we are not in that league.

£9 per hr, on the books with all the benefits and security that offfers, well it's money for old rope. What financial risk do you have? None. What if the client hasn't paid, you still get it. What if the work goes slack? Your boss will usually find you something to do so you get a wage still, even if it means he goes without. Vehicle problems? Not your worry.

Of course we are always worth more than we get, of course we are never content with our lot, it's human nature.

If you don't like it, try and do it for yourself, most end up quitting and going back to employment, or quitting the trade altogether, the world is full of "I used to be a tree surgeon" types.

[Joy Yeomans]

A highly skilled profession is that of a neurologist, a nuclear physicist or an astronaut, not a tree surgeon. It's a semi skilled trade, not even in the same league as a gas fitter, or an electrician. The average tree surgeon will climb more small trees than large, and will only occasionally be in a dangerous situation, and most of those are avoidable with the correct procedures and equipment. A dangerous profession is an Explosive Ordinance Officer, we are not in that league.

£9 per hr, on the books with all the benefits and security that offfers, well it's money for old rope. What financial risk do you have? None. What if the client hasn't paid, you still get it. What if the work goes slack? Your boss will usually find you something to do so you get a wage still, even if it means he goes without. Vehicle problems? Not your worry.

Of course we are always worth more than we get, of course we are never content with our lot, it's human nature.

If you don't like it, try and do it for yourself, most end up quitting and going back to employment, or quitting the trade altogether, the world is full of "I used to be a tree surgeon" types.

 

:thumbup1:

[Mick Stockbridge]

Driving is still part of the job! It's tiring at the end of the day If you have a long slog home and especially in and out of London it's not just a matter of sitting in a truck if it was then we would all be delivery drivers. I think£9 a hour is a pi#% take considering how dangerous are job can be and how much training we have to put into it.

 

It was a bit of a tongue in cheek comment mate.

 

I must say though that the driving about from one place to another and not feeling trapped in anyone place for too long was part of the reason I ended up doing this job, and it's only pushing a few pedals ffs....