Redundancies from work, anyone else seeing it in your industry?

[Truman42]

I work as a bus driver for the city council, there is a pretty high turnover of staff already just with people starting and realising it's not what they thought it would be or whatever and then leaving again. I suppose the only threat to my job is stupidity on my own part, or if the whole thing gets privatised.

Until self drive vehicles take over. I read an article that said they are only five years away. Apparently Google brought shares in Uber and plan to use self drive cars for their entire fleet.

Also said that they could replace every taxi in New York with something like 6000 self drive cars. Average wait time would be 35 seconds and cost would be 23 cents per mile. Article also said that this would extend to buses trucks practically any vehicle.

It was a very Interestng article. I'll try and find it.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Been there...had 2 redundancies.

17yrs on the Railways and they payed me out, LSL, hols, 4 weeks for every year capped...

Then a 2nd one that was worth **** all

They are a shot in the arm...but only if you can get another job

 

[manticle]

Until self drive vehicles take over. I read an article that said they are only five years away. Apparently Google brought shares in Uber and plan to use self drive cars for their entire fleet.
Also said that they could replace every taxi in New York with something like 6000 self drive cars. Average wait time would be 35 seconds and cost would be 23 cents per mile. Article also said that this would extend to buses trucks practically any vehicle.
It was a very Interestng article. I'll try and find it.

I would trust a self drive car like I would trust a spaceship computer called HAL

 

[Lincoln2]

I once got the old "golden handshake". Paid for the deposit and a hefty whack off our first property so I can't complain.

Up here, growing weed is a fair sized industry. A lot of growers are a wee bit concerned about possible decriminalisation (or even legalisation). Not a formal redundancy as such but there would be some fallout. Who'd a thunk it would be the Libs who got the ball rolling?

 

[kalbarluke]

I'm a high school teacher in the government system. Redundancy is something I'm not that familiar with. The only time it has happened to my knowledge in our state system was when Herr Can Do Newman (the little Can't) sacked 20,000 public servants a few years ago. About 3000 of them were from the Education Department. It didn't impact on me in particular but a few acquaintances of mine had left the classroom and were working in central office. Most of them were offered jobs back in classrooms (mostly out whoop whoop) or told to get another job. Not sure of payouts or packages involved.

For the OP, I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Kumamoto_Ken]

The agency I work for went from 900 staff to 650 in about 18 months...seems to be about the going rate in the public service.
~100 were voluntary redundancies, the rest involuntary.

 

[spog]

Nah move South so you can work in the Car industry, or submarine construction.

Submarines made from old Holdens ? That'll never float..

 

[spog]

Made redundant a few years back,I'm in the building game. Wages etc are being cut back by a number of companies here,but curiously the price of the houses isn't being lowered accordingly .
How very strange.
But I took work at a wage I was earning almost 18 yrs ago. Gotta do what you gotta do.
I owe,I owe ,it's off to work I go..

 

[Rocker1986]

You mean, Newman the malignant dwarf didn't privatise it while he was mayor? How could he possibly have missed that one ?

:lol: No, though I wasn't working there at the time. He was premier when I started, and he was pushing for it undoubtedly but it never eventuated. I may not lose my job if it happened, but the pay and conditions would be **** compared to what they are currently, if the stories from drivers who have come across from existing private companies are anything to go by.

I'm not too worried about self drive vehicles taking over... at least not in the majority of my working life. Personally, even if I didn't work in the industry, I'd think it a **** idea. I enjoy the interaction between driver and passenger, whether I am driving or catching a bus. Would be interested to read that article though.

 

[Benn]

I've got my assests on the market, I don't like what's going on.

 

[Cervantes]

Anyone servicing the Oil & Gas / Mining Industries in Western Australia will probably have had a pay cut this year if they didn't get made redundant.

It's a double whammy for the Perth Engineering industry with both the Oil and Iron Ore prices going through the floor, which means that all of the resource companies are cutting back on both capital and operating expenditure.

I don't see things improving in a hurry either.

 

[krausenhaus]

Anyone servicing the Oil & Gas / Mining Industries in Western Australia will probably have had a pay cut this year if they didn't get made redundant.

It's a double whammy for the Perth Engineering industry with both the Oil and Iron Ore prices going through the floor, which means that all of the resource companies are cutting back on both capital and operating expenditure.

I don't see things improving in a hurry either.

I had an Uber driver the other day who was an engineer in Kalgoorlie up until last month.

Things had already started slowing down by the time I graduated so I moved to Melbourne to work in dairy/food.. Kind of glad I dicked around and took such a long time to finish my degree really.

 

[malt and barley blues]

Nothing lasts forever, a place I worked in the UK a huge complex manufacturing diversified products, employed 14,000 people with 3,000 just doing the maintenance, we got to our place of work using a fleet of double decker buses everyone thought it would be a job for life.
Now it is just a piece of flat ground every factory unit has now gone.

 

[Dave70]

Until self drive vehicles take over. I read an article that said they are only five years away. Apparently Google brought shares in Uber and plan to use self drive cars for their entire fleet.

Also said that they could replace every taxi in New York with something like 6000 self drive cars. Average wait time would be 35 seconds and cost would be 23 cents per mile. Article also said that this would extend to buses trucks practically any vehicle.

It was a very Interestng article. I'll try and find it.

Maby not as soon as you think. But not due to any technological shortcomings. If you can taxi, take off, cruise and land an A-380 via computer control, or dogfight a Eurofighter Typhoon at 1000 + kph, getting a Johnny Cab to pick up fares is no biggy.
The issue I heard raised was how the software will be programmed in terms of ethics. For example, what will the cab decide to do in an emergency situation where a collision with a human is unavoidable? Will it swerve to miss a mother pushing a pram only to careen onto a footpath crowded with people? What if a drunken, drug addled, homeless black man stumbles into its path. Would it have to decide to save his life if missing him meant potentially running down a bunch of white private school kids waiting at a bus stop? These cannot be random decisions, and someone will have to tell the software to hit a cat rather than dodge it and risk a collision with a human.
Remember the old trolley problem?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

 

[hellbent]

If we get Shorten in in the next election he'll fix it :lol:

or more likely **** it completely!!!

 

[Black n Tan]

I manage a small privately held biotech company doing Alzheimer's disease research. Our clinical trial failed to hit its end-points so it was time to shut the company. Unfortunately I am under contract so no redundancy. I have been employed for 10 years by the company and knew it was coming, so I an really very appreciative for the opportunity. Such is life. But then my wife, who works for a pharmaceutical company, comes home early from work a week after my news to tell me she was made redundant after 10 years service. Frick! Fortunately they offered her a years reprieve to take on a maternity leave position and she will get a pretty reasonable package. The government rhetoric is science is a priority area and that they are concerned with decline in the number of student doing science, and then they reduce funding for scientific research and places like the CSIRO have to cull the workforce. So biotech is struggling in this country and the government is sitting on their hands. I have three degrees and 23 years industry experience and I am not sure what I will be doing next year. What do they say, don't worry and have another home-brew.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

not having a science minister is telling.

this was a good listen: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/len-fisher-precious-petals-targeted-research/6518060#transcript

 

[GalBrew]

I manage a small privately held biotech company doing Alzheimer's disease research. Our clinical trial failed to hit its end-points so it was time to shut the company. Unfortunately I am under contract so no redundancy. I have been employed for 10 years by the company and knew it was coming, so I an really very appreciative for the opportunity. Such is life. But then my wife, who works for a pharmaceutical company, comes home early from work a week after my news to tell me she was made redundant after 10 years service. Frick! Fortunately they offered her a years reprieve to take on a maternity leave position and she will get a pretty reasonable package. The government rhetoric is science is a priority area and that they are concerned with decline in the number of student doing science, and then they reduce funding for scientific research and places like the CSIRO have to cull the workforce. So biotech is struggling in this country and the government is sitting on their hands. I have three degrees and 23 years industry experience and I am not sure what I will be doing next year. What do they say, don't worry and have another home-brew.

Ha! I wish there were redundancies in research. All that happens here is you simply don't get any more funding, close up the lab and get a kind 'don't let the door hit your ass on the way out'! Oh and it is likely that you will never find employment in research again, as funding is not increasing for anyone. I was lucky enough to get a job that has 5 years of funding, however as I am no longer a primary investigator on any research project I have effectively destroyed my research career.

Oh well, at least I have a full keg fridge. (I also have 3 degrees, not sure that they were worth the trouble or cost of doing).

 

[mwd]

I manage a small privately held biotech company doing Alzheimer's disease research. Our clinical trial failed to hit its end-points so it was time to shut the company. Unfortunately I am under contract so no redundancy. I have been employed for 10 years by the company and knew it was coming, so I an really very appreciative for the opportunity. Such is life. But then my wife, who works for a pharmaceutical company, comes home early from work a week after my news to tell me she was made redundant after 10 years service. Frick! Fortunately they offered her a years reprieve to take on a maternity leave position and she will get a pretty reasonable package. The government rhetoric is science is a priority area and that they are concerned with decline in the number of student doing science, and then they reduce funding for scientific research and places like the CSIRO have to cull the workforce. So biotech is struggling in this country and the government is sitting on their hands. I have three degrees and 23 years industry experience and I am not sure what I will be doing next year. What do they say, don't worry and have another home-brew.

Oh I forgot what I was going to say now. Three degrees could start a band in Showbiz. The Oil Industry used to be full of people with degrees in Geology start at the bottom as a Mudlogger and work up from there. A Rock Doctor is really useful when you got problems with the Topdrive All electric and hydraulics even the diesel mechanic has problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kYrY7WcaNo This could be the most off topic post yet due to SN Hoppy Lager.

 

[Dave70]

not having a science minister is telling.

this was a good listen: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/len-fisher-precious-petals-targeted-research/6518060#transcript

Pfizer may have been targeting research for a drug to treat pulmonary hypertension, but imagine the serendipity when it also turned out to be a first class stiffly pill to!