Including the d/PM by the sounds of it.
I'm not anti union but tired of bloated contracts. I saw the AMWU press release about the 30% increase request over 3 years with only 15% offered. As for whether they are underpaid or overpaid etc, it all depends upon scarcity. I just don't want to see the bill going up in similar fashion.
The Allen govt was asked how they could afford paying nurses some 30% more over 3 years (or similar) to which the new Premier replied "the usual way". She meant debt borrowing but didn't have the guts to say it.
Public monies should always be utilised like they're your own, and to quote someone, you ego can't keep writing cheques you body can't cash.
As for Johnson, he was widely criticised due to his language but he did have a point.
I've worked in engineering on major projects for decades, our pay is, if not below what we were paid a decade or decade and a half ago, well below CPI. In the same time financial sector and non technical PMs salaries have gone through the roof, literally doubled in some cases.
Reality check, the issues we are having is project management, contract management, administration and management in general, the highest paid are the least qualified, the least professional and the least competent. Yet the blame is thrown at those who deign, build and fix things.
Maybe if the people who actually needed to be qualified to do their jobs were paid more than the unqualified people who manage, if they, instead of unqualified managers, were in-charge, things would be better?
Many managers used to be engineers or even came off the tools, now they are admin people who fall into PM, contracts and administration roles. Think on that.
I wasn't going to say it, but I need to. The kids who weren't good at maths and science, follow an easier, kinder path into device related roles. Because of the low intellectual bar, and the lack of anything actually quantifiable, they are promoted on popularity and likability. They end up as senior managers and directors, decision makers.
The actual doers, the smart skilled people, unless they strike out on their own as sole traders contractors or consultants, are subordinate to the popular but dumb ones. Actually, even if they are contractors or consultants, they are still subordinate to the dumb fs.
Then when shot goes wrong, who gets the blame? The dumb f manager? No it's the smart person who wasn't listened to.