Council Wages A Problem?

[bassett one]

is this a idea to end up with just private contractors?it seems such a great shame when we have nice quality young trades people leaving not to work for themselves,but leaving to work for neighbouring district councils like chesterfield as they pay £8,000 a year more,he said he thought sheffield was the lowest pay for tradesmen,is this because now its back in house,its often said SCC like this as they can move around there income as needed,but its a sad loss,and will end up where we lose out as young men especially those with familys ect,need cash income as many only have that as a income.

[Funky_Gibbon]

5 hours ago, Pkingy said:

 

Sorry Funky Gibbon but you got your facts wrong mate. I worked for the council as a plumber for 30years took early retirement last year. The vast majority of tradesmen are employed by the council as was I. 

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

[AKAMD]

The Government's take on this is that the public sector workers are paid more than private sector, hence their pay freeze!  And we all believe Boris don't we?  Not!

[the_bloke]

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/job-vacancies/Joblistings/community-technician

 

26 to 30k a year in Sheffield for a 'community technician'

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, the_bloke said:

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/job-vacancies/Joblistings/community-technician

 

26 to 30k a year in Sheffield for a 'community technician'

If that is accurate, it makes me believe that the protagonist referred to in the original post was being  disingenuous. Sounds more like he or she was leaving for a full grade promotion at Chesterfield not just simply seeking better pay for the same job.

 

In view of the surveyed national average salary for qualified electricians (inc those working self-employed and running their own businesses coming out at around £33k per annum)..... I find it very hard to believe that any local authority would pay a lower-level gang electrician a standard salary of £34,000 to £42,000 without them at least being some supervisory or managerial level.

 

So, to answer the the original question -  no I certainly don't think council wages are a problem.  Not unless the problem is certain councils paying far too much.

Edited March 29, 2021 by ECCOnoob

[bassett one]

he told me that he was moving to derbyshire council to do the exact same electricians job ,as the one he did for sheffield,he said it was a well known fact that sheffield was one of the lowest pay for there workers,he was a electrician working for SCC housing as a electrician,there must be a pay table or league table for what these guys get paid for the different councils?

[ECCOnoob]

4 hours ago, bassett one said:

he told me that he was moving to derbyshire council to do the exact same electricians job ,as the one he did for sheffield,he said it was a well known fact that sheffield was one of the lowest pay for there workers,he was a electrician working for SCC housing as a electrician,there must be a pay table or league table for what these guys get paid for the different councils?

Well if £26k to £34k is criticised as being "low" pay level for the job compared to other counties no wonder local authority service and repair charges are so high compared to private companies. No wonder all our council taxes keep skyrocketing every year.

 

Looks like more evidence of why our local authorities are always in dire straits financially....

 

Is it really to blame on central government underfunding or is it just complete financial mismanagement, continuouslly overpaying and caving into unreasonble demanded salaries that are totally devoid of any commercial realities??

 

[ads36]

good luck getting a qualified electrician anything for less than £26K.

 

that's roughly what we pay our starters, and they spend the best part of a year making mistakes and breaking stuff.

[ECCOnoob]

26 minutes ago, ads36 said:

good luck getting a qualified electrician anything for less than £26K.

 

that's roughly what we pay our starters, and they spend the best part of a year making mistakes and breaking stuff.

I'm talking about comparative rates. The original post appears to be purporting that Sheffield CC  has "low pay" for electricians work when Chesterfield are offering £8,000 more for the same gang level electrician in a local authority setting. 

 

Based on that logic, I am arguing that a starting pay for an newish qualified electrician of £34k+, being significantly over and above the national average sparky salary (including those running their own businesses) seems ridiculously high.

 

There are plenty of other qualified trades and even graduate-level white-collar jobs whose salaries, even many years after post qualification, are nowhere near that.

 

For the record by the way, I know plenty of qualified people whose jobs are barely reaching £26k a year including those who have gone through law and medical school which, with respect to the skilled trades, takes a damn sight longer to graduate in than an electricians or carpentry course.

 

The point I am trying to bring to the discussion is to question whether salaries for tradesmen in the civil service have drifted too far outside the realms of any private company comparative or even basic commercial realities. 

 

In turn, who is lumbered with paying the price for such drastic differentials.  

 

Whilst it likely an average 18-year old choosing the direction of their career will be more drawn into the perceived glamour of Law, teaching or medicine as oppose the toil of a traditional trade, which of course will have an impact on supply and pushes rates up.... what happens when the bubble bursts as it has done in the past.  It is certainly not uncommon for people's careers to hit a sudden wall and there is the risk of pricing oneself out the market.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by ECCOnoob

[bassett one]

its very intresting,as a trades man for SCC or chesterfield or where ever,theres holidays,a  good pension ect,ect,so if sheffields the lowest,chesterfield is higher,take it london ect will be even higher,would it not be cheaper and more benifical,as they have to have vans,petrol ect,plus PAYE  ect,to  pay them a bigger wage,make them all self employed and then they can claim lots of money back tax wise and the council would save as well,also possibly need less management staff.