Interesting. An extract:
Over the years, I have received a steady stream of emails from people in the mining industry, alarmed at what is going on. See this story from a man who was doing plumbing training with another apprentice who happened to be female and indigenous:
“Someone from BHP HR phoned her directly and begged her to come on board as the first female plumbing indigenous apprentice. She said she didn’t really want to but BHP kept phoning and eventually she took it. When I asked, ‘What do you actually do?’ she said that they gave her a house in the town not in the mine site, a brand-new Mercedes van, all rent and living expenses all paid for. She only had to work weekdays 7am to 3pm, just driving around changing tap washers all day at worker bathrooms. Her salary was $90,000 which for an apprentice is huge. As you finish your training we want to promote you immediately to supervisor, they said. She was telling me all this with a smile on her face. This boils my piss. Juxtapose that to the young guys in the class working long hours in filthy conditions in Perth earning next to no money.”
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Just to say. Most of the things described in Bettina’s article are illegal in the UK under the Equality Act. The cases connected to the RAF scandal, and the compensation payouts, demonstrate the illegality and the assumptions of many that such direct discrimination is OK. As Bettina points out the law in Australia, as in the UK, has to be applied through people taking out employment tribunal or civil cases. In the UK most of these are settled out of court once it becomes the company/organisation will lose. Unfortunately this means few such cases get publicity and men in general don’t get to learn that their experience of unfairness is nt actually lawful but the assumptions of HR depts or managers. Like Bettina I hope that there will be people/organisations with the funds to support men with such cases.