Yuppy Uni certificating has hijacked common sense which was the foundation for all directions of life chosen.
Insufficient Intellect smothered intelligence by sheer numbers & so, the decline of Western society was set for snow-balling & this opened the welcome gates for corruption. The major part of corruption was the ever lowering standard of education which resulted in incompetence & under-performance to such a degree that out-sourcing was the only option to maintain some sort of economy !
Now, we're copping the frivolous mentality of those in charge over the years since the Goaf who set the stage for all the nonsense.

Dar Hasbeen,

The TWU is indeed one of the most powerful unions going around and have secured their members half way decent wages.

Are you suggesting they should be brought back to the mechanics level so blokes like your mate aren't tempted to leave or should the mechanics seek affiliation with a strong union to ensure they get paid decently?

Why is this the fault of the unions?

Why is this the fault of the unions?
SteeleRedux,
Because they pushed wages above the productivity level. They demanded that some workers had to be paid more than they brought in to cover the cost of their employment. Unions did a very valuable job in the early days but once decent pays were established they didn't stop demanding more.
Unions can't comprehend that if worker gets paid more than what they employer can sell the goods/services for then you arrive at imbalance. Then, as wages rise, prices rise, then wages must rise again & so on.
The only way to achieve a balance that makes local enterprise competitive is to freeze/reduce salaries of people that cost more to keep on the payroll than what they provide in return for the employer. After all, the workers wouldn't accept to have to pay more than they earn either !

I suggest we should have a system that rewards those with the skill & training, rather than those who can or are willing to do the most financial damage to their employer. Obviously no mechanic, no running trucks for drivers to drive.

Drivers can be trained cheaply & quickly, Truck mechanics take long apprenticeships, plus years on the job training, & should be suitably rewarded.

In your favored system it is the bullies that do best

I recall a couple of years ago when a Queensland company was charging around $5,000 each to train people to drive those huge mining trucks with the aim of them getting jobs in Western Australia.

However when they finished their course and applied for those jobs the mining company told them they would be hiring drivers from overseas because they could pay them a lower rate.

Likewise those overseas phone call centres in Mumbai and the Phillipines have displaced local workers for the same reason. A Telstra employee who was responsible for paying those accounts told me in order for outsourcing to be viable the overseas wages cost needs to be at less than 50 percent of the local rate and those overseas phone operators are generally ex-university students.

How is it possible to compete with that sort of wage difference?

.. most financial damage to their employer.
Hasbeen,
That's the one thing I fail to understand the unions mentality when they call strikes. They always punish the workers with loss of income for a few Dollars wage increase instead of causing less profit for those employers who can afford a little more.d to pay. Many small businesses can't afford more but they could if Govt were to reduce permit fees & other over-the-top charges.
Look at Rego in for example. Or Council rates etc. Strike by not paying them instead of preventing workers from earning a wage. It's not as if we didn't pay excessive tax on everything we have to buy.
Reward those who provide goods & services we all need instead of those who have nothing but a certificate from some University & no other skill nor ability to benefit society !