14th October 2008, 12:38 PM
The whole sorry mess bothers me, but a few things really alarm me:
Will the circuit digger be able to calculate how much tax will be owed (if this farce continues) prior to accepting the job? This relies on the accommodation being sorted well in advance of the project and not suddenly changing as it's wont to do. This also means that units will have to set wages differently for each project to allow for the taxed benefits. It is VERY difficult to save anything out of a digger's wage as it is.
Provided accommodation brings staff into areas where they could otherwise not afford to work (and I don't think that wages will suddenly shoot up, nice as that would be).
Like is not being compared with like under this new tax practice.
There is still a big difference between how permanent and project basee staff get treated, even at the same level, ie one gets subsistence, the other not. (On a single away project staff may have different places of employment, depending on when they were hired and for what purpose originally.)
I think that there's a world of difference between staying away for a few nights on a watching brief and the seven month away stretch. In the latter case we should be compared with organised labour gangs, like in agriculture. The project simply could not be done if the work force were not found concentrated accommodation. If it is not "traditional" in the industry it is only because we've been late in pulling out boot straps up. Nobody will take us seriously if we go back to living in tents in October and getting drunk to keep warm.
Will the circuit digger be able to calculate how much tax will be owed (if this farce continues) prior to accepting the job? This relies on the accommodation being sorted well in advance of the project and not suddenly changing as it's wont to do. This also means that units will have to set wages differently for each project to allow for the taxed benefits. It is VERY difficult to save anything out of a digger's wage as it is.
Provided accommodation brings staff into areas where they could otherwise not afford to work (and I don't think that wages will suddenly shoot up, nice as that would be).
Like is not being compared with like under this new tax practice.
There is still a big difference between how permanent and project basee staff get treated, even at the same level, ie one gets subsistence, the other not. (On a single away project staff may have different places of employment, depending on when they were hired and for what purpose originally.)
I think that there's a world of difference between staying away for a few nights on a watching brief and the seven month away stretch. In the latter case we should be compared with organised labour gangs, like in agriculture. The project simply could not be done if the work force were not found concentrated accommodation. If it is not "traditional" in the industry it is only because we've been late in pulling out boot straps up. Nobody will take us seriously if we go back to living in tents in October and getting drunk to keep warm.