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Purloined from the Australian fbuck page of a women's group called "Destroy the Joint". What's your opinion?

"
The male domimated construction industry has one of the worst safety records in Australia, coming in third place for deaths at work, the highest rate of workplace injury and illness and twice the national rate of suicide.

The construction workers' union, the CFMMEU has campaigned for many years for safer and more inclusive construction sites. They have been fined $50,000 for taking industrial action to have women's toilets on a construction site and late last year union members and Roberts Pizzarotti (Roberts Co) finalised an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement to limit their working week to 5 days from Monday to Friday.

Now the rest of the industry and governments in Victoria and NSW are catching up. We don't know if their ethics have changed but they are realising the current culture in construction costs at least $8 billion per year.

"The so-called culture standard that will be applied to contracts will require employers not to schedule work on Saturdays – a common practice – and limit working weeks to 55 hours, prioritise on-site mental health support, provide amenities for women and remove offensive material from sites." Overtime during the week compensates for lost weekend rates of pay.

"Urgent change is needed to prevent the losses, but also to secure a pipeline of workers by tapping women who have largely avoided the industry with a macho and sexist reputation, particularly as closed borders mean the country can rely less than ever on migration, Construction Industry Culture Taskforce members say."

"The reduction in hours in construction – the country’s third-largest industry – would make it easier for the partners of male workers to also do paid work, Ms [Alison] Mirams [CEO of Roberts Co Construction] said.

“A six-day week perpetuates the gender stereotype that Daddy’s the breadwinner and Mummy’s the carer,” she said.

“The construction worker’s working hours are so long and inconsistent that Mum has had to pick up all the care and responsibility for kids, so mums have left the workforce.”

“'If I’ve got a husband who’s a father in our office working late, I know there’s a wife at home who’s had to change her schedule because of our working patterns,' she said."
[afr.com]

Destroyers, how do the work patterns of the men in your family affect others in your family, including partners, children and extended family? Does everyone adjust to the demands of men's employers and, if not, what made a difference in your family?

NOTE: Credit where credit is due. Roberts Co are leading the industry in this change. Although the EBA was signed late last year, they won a contract to redevelop Concord Hospital in 2018 by including a 5 day week in their tender. Since 2018 they have funded a $5000 Women in Built Environment Scholarship, they have women in key roles throughout the organisation, and have sponsored activities of the National Association of Women in Construction.
[scholarships.unsw.edu.au]
"
Destroy the Joint, Fbuk group.

FrayedBear 9 Sep 11
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I worked in the passive fire protection side of construction for many years, as an office manager.
I eventually came to the conclusion that many (by no means all) of the people working in construction only do so because they are to stupid not to.
The push to cut costs and actual time working by the employers in order to keep estimates down lead to dreadful working conditions, low pay, corner cutting, ludicrous health and safety violations and a reliance on sub par workers who will put up with slave like treatment just to pocket a few extra quid dodgey bonus money.
One guy almost lost an eye thanks to not wearing double glazed safety googles when a drill bit snapped off and and went straight through the cheap replacements he had bought himself from poundland, having lost his company issue goggles and being afraid to admit it and have to pay the £15 replacement cost.
Another occasion saw me having to call the police to remove from site a sprayer turn up for work on Monday morning having been taken off site in an ambulance on Friday because he suffered a severe stroke. He had discharged himself from hospital claiming he could not afford to lose a days pay, even though he was crippled all down one side and and had used a crutch to operate the brake of his car to get to site.
In order to go on to site myself I had to complete a CSCS course (Construction Skills Certification scheme) in on site health and safety and appropriate behavior.
I assumed the course would be detailed and explanatory. It basically amount to a list of things not to do unless you want to die a horrible and gruesome death.
One question I particularly recall was to do with what to do if working a height was impossible because of a delay in the arrival of a cherry picker.
The options were
A)Wait until it arrives
B) Have some one lift you up on the prongs of a fork lift
C) pull up a van close to the work area and stand on the roof

Amazingly some people got it wrong, however since the pass mark is only 45% this did not really matter that much I suppose.
When I scored 100% because I knew not to drink petrol or pain thinners (another question) the administrator call me a clever dick and asked me "what the fuck I was doing there."

I had one woman work for us on one occasion, as a sprayer. She left after a week claiming "being around so many arseholes is melting my brain." her name was Pam and the last I heard was she was managing a delivery depot in Middlesbrough.

I never saw a women's convenience on site other than in the office because it was according to one project manager I met "Too fucking posh." to have more than one.

I remember my 3 day induction course with George Whimpeys. The highlight was a 3 course banquet at Hammersmith town hall with a ½ hour free bar beforehand. As I didn't drink gin in those days it was pints of beer - 6 of them in the half hour. We were told that we were not allowed to go to the toilet during the meal & speeches, an instruction that I ignored. The first session next day was the safety officers 20 minutes of colour slides on the gruesome deaths & injuries on construction sites. The one that I still remember after all these years is the photo of the grader driver on the slab at the morgue. His throat had been peeled open from ear to ear by the control wires to the soil box snapping under the weight of the filling box because he hadn't connected the main shackle to the tractor - just pulled it by the wires. The worst that I ever saw was a hand broken by the knob on the road roller's steering wheel hitting the driver's hand because a bulldozer pushed on the steering wheel thus turning it & the knob in the cabin. The driver had driven over the steep side of the road base that had been built up, the bulldozer trying to push him back up. I've never seen someone change from a laughing Paddy to a screaming Paddy or exit a road roller cabin so fast!
My first safety instruction from the head timekeeper on a 4000 unit Liverpool site was "do not put your hand outside the safety of the hut when handing out termination pay packets. Throw it through onto the ledge so they can't pull your arm through & snap it at the elbow on the ledge. Advice that I followed for all pay packets, terminations or not. On reflection I now know that I was extremely stupid having walked unescorted the 200 metres from office to hut on numerous occasions with the tray of 80 pay packets on my shoulder. Possibly because I was told by an engineer whose digs I took over that when working a N.Ireland site the labourer attacked the time hut leaving it looking like a Swiss cheese because the security company armoured car failed to turn up with the wages. All management walked off site leaving the timekeepers to fend for themselves.
I can no longer remember what we did for toilets.

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I was fascinated that change is emanating from a cry for 5 day weeks to prevent "poor overworked" stay at home wives from having to spend Saturdays & Sundays doing domestic chores like parenting.

Advisedly do I say "if you won't do the time don't do the crime keep your knees together & your penis in your pants".

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Working construction is tough world wide. Not any better in much of the states. I spent near 30 years working masonry in the summers and some winter breaks. My pay sucked because I worked for my ex father-in-law, but at least if it got too oppressive hot (at least once) or I needed to do something else,I didn't fear getting fired. I've been reading about those folks working in the US Southwest and getting little benefits or even enough breaks from the heat. And then, in places like Qatar, those immigrants imported to build soccer stadiums are essentially slaves.

I was fascinated that change is emanating from a cry for 5 day weeks to prevent "poor overworked" stay at home wives from having to spend Saturdays & Sundays doing domestic chores like parenting.

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