Dear rehctub,

You wrote;

“While I accept $10 per hour is a very low pay rate, if anyone thinks we can afford to pay near or above $20 per hour to collect trolleys, and compete globally, they have some serious issues. This is living proof the minimum wage is simply too high.”

Okay, I know this is a favorite soap box of yours, but please explain how in the hell does the rate the big supermarkets pay their trolley collectors impede us competing globally?

Bit of a disconnect there I'm afraid.

Look if you are so cut up about it why don't you shop at Aldi. They are able to offer lower prices partly because their operators do not bag the groceries and they have coin locked trollies. You get your $2 back when you return it. If you want to shop at the two majors then you shouldn't be whinging about the prices.

Aiden,
I do not remember just where the road was planned.
It was a major road, not a motorway, to provide a bypass around a town.
It was a newspaper article. It was probably around 2004.
If you want to search for it say so and I will look up my old passport
and get the years.

TWIMC, the trolley men are not employed by Coles/Woolies but by contractors.

I found an old news article that stated that employees of 457 visas actually cost more than local staff.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/06/27/glance-457-visa-holders-australia

Why would companies hire people on 457 visas if they cost more?
Why do they hire adults as trolley collectors instead of under-21's which cost less?
How can they win all their trolley contracts if they are paying their staff more than Australian workers?
If these people are on 457 visas, how can they as trolley collectors be classed as skilled?
Something doesn't smell right...

And if this is happening how stupid are we as a nation?
We pay a adult foreigner triple the normal wage in his own country and he takes most of that money home, never to be spent within our economy again.
We give a foreigner that kind of get ahead opportunity over giving an Aussie possibly their first job which not only costs less but has the added potential to save a welfare expense, plus the money gets spent here?
And although the job is so easy people doing work for the dole could do it, Coles or Woolies don't deserve any more free laundering of taxpayers funds directly into shareholder profit via welfare recipients grocery expenses and should provide Australians jobs.

Its un-Australian not to hire Australians and Coles and Woolies honestly should be shamed SEVERELY for this because they PROFIT FROM WELFARE.

It may not be the greatest start to working life, but its not the worst (it's better than nothing) and for some young Aussies its one opportunity less just to get a job.

AC,

Workers on 457 Visas cost a lot more. On top of the same salary as other workers, the costs incl relocation, health cover, schooling etc, but is generally a last resort when the requisite skills are hard to find in Aus.

Bazz,
Is it on this list?
http://legacy.abd.org.uk/bypass.htm

Europe raised environmental standsrds (particularly regarding endangered species habitats) which pushed construction costs up, but that's something that should (and probably would) have happened anyway. But AFAIK the EU has never actually blocked any British road project, and doesn't have the power to do so.

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rehctub,
Where did you get the crazy idea that people come here on 457 visas to be trolley pushers?

Aiden, as I said I do not remember the name of the town.
It was years ago.