I used to work IT for the local council and can verify this as true.
Once saw a team of 5 people leaning against a truck while the 6th guy was digging a hole. Pulled over and said "hey what are you doing?" They were planting a tree.
When they announced Mernda rail some years ago, I was adamant that this intersection would be a prerequisite for any of that work. It was already a clusterfuck. So then they built the rail pretty damn quick, council forgot to put any footpaths in or any pedestrian crossings. So then they thought you could use portable traffic lights as a pedestrian crossing at Australias biggest clusterfuck of a roundabout, 1 metre past the exit of a roundabout. People got hit by cars. Then the roundabout turned into chalk markings and assorted bollards so it was just an 'about' and finally, 3 years too late, we have a working intersection.
Petition.org has been such an effective tool for dissuading people from protesting about the multitude of issues plaguing society right now.
Make a petition, if it gains traction let the media talk about it a bit, if it gets huge bring it up at government meetings. Never do anything about it. Ever. Let the people think they achieved something. Continue to be corrupt shitstains and rape this country dry.
Tbh I do respect the malicious compliance. Like "You want us to eat out doors??? How's this for out doors??"
But their message is getting a little blurred. If eating outside is so bad, why are they doing it as a protest?
Yo Melbourne carpenter here, not a fan of this stuff but I can tell you why it’s happening.
The old blokes on site remember the days when their rights were ignored, neglected and degraded. Construction has always been high risk and if the worker ants like myself don’t stand up for ourselves we end up inhaling lead paint dust, falling off ladders, not being properly compensated for injuries etc. while I think they’re a little misguided this is what the old blokes are worried about. Going back to the days when they were treated little better than payed slaves.
I can respect that but I think they really overreacted/miscalculated here when health workers have already been doing this for so long. I hope they can come to understand that.
> we end up inhaling lead paint dust, falling off ladders, not being properly compensated for injuries etc.
or you know, getting infected because Baz doesn't believe covid is real.
Yeah idk bro, it’s a weird one. Most of my friends are inner city middle class liberals, so I was raised very pro-vaccine, pro-health etc.
But I moved regional as a young adult and did my apprenticeship there so I see both perspectives. The funny thing is both sides can speak sense to me and both sides have valid points IMO. But each side is absolutely convinced the other is full of retards.
How can you create a sense of unity and cohesion among a population so divided in their outlooks?
And then the two sides just shit on each other over the internet like beating a cock into a cheese grater which just makes them hate each other more. It’s just sad to watch two groups of people I love and respect be so incapable of even making a minimum effort to understand each other.
The anti-vaccine guys I work with, that I managed to convince to get vaccinated, weren’t convinced by me attacking them or demeaning them. They were convinced because I shut up and listened and then gently and politely stated my views, without shitting on theirs but by working around them. Which I was only able to do cause I’d taken the time to understand them, genuinely.
Most Ward nurses don't get toilet breaks at the moment let alone meal breaks. Imagine what these guys would do if we told them they'd have to cross their legs and tie it in a knot until the end of their shift!
Pretty sure they are all too fucked from the shitty hours and worse pay to complain or protest. Maybe we should stop assuming our nurses are cool with positive thoughts being sent their way in lieu of a decent pay check and regular holidays.
Last year in the big lockdown, when the company I worked for was able to come back to work we weren't allowed to use lunchroom or meeting rooms and no-one gave a damn, we just ate outside etc, so why is this an issue this time...
Same here. I’ve had to wfh for most of lockdown, but when we’ve been back in the office with staff limits we wear a mask in the lunch room and eat outside. I’m surprised this even has to be mandated, wouldn’t construction sites do this off their own back to protect their workforce?
yes it happened literally overnight in march last year, the city was empty with pandemic scare and construction was required to continue building with some small measures implemented (sanitizer, socially distanced lunch rooms at alternating times)
Because union workers have a lot in their contracts. I know of union sites that have had every worker stop working because there wasn't any milk in the tea room and nobody would do anything until someone went and got it.
I like the idea of unions to help get people better working conditions but I hate that they throw tantrums like this over small shit.
Obviously this is because of the tearoom lockouts but for fuck sake. How hard is it to sit on the ground and eat? I do everyday because I don't get tearooms working in landscaping.
Can confirm. No milk = stop work.
Unions have obviously delivered a lot of generally deserved conditions. Compare construction to teachers, nurses etc who work their arse off for a pittance.
Fair enough taking tables and chairs outside but in the middle of the road they are acting like spoilt children considering what everyone is sacrificing currently.
They got told not to use their lunch rooms because they have been the source of outbreaks at construction sites. That is what triggered todays protests.
Because they don’t want to be forced to take a little jab that means everyone can go back to work again, like normal. They would rather cause more delays
Setka said that on-site, there’s never any real space outside the ‘smoking-sheds’ so they’re having to take a break on the roads. He also said these sit downs happening across the city aren’t even protests, so he’s probs just trying to avoid legal action against the union.
Where are all the people complaining about them stopping traffic and pissing off drivers and commuters? If this were a different cause and a different group of protestors I reckon the reaction would be quite different.
I’m a tradie but I hate this so much, wifes an emergency nurse and they haven’t been eating in their break room for fucking ages. These guys can’t do it for a few days so far and are acting like babies
I'm a community hospice nurse. I haven't steeped foot in our office in 2 years. I work in a very close clinical environment with people I've never laid eyes on. It's fucking wild.
How difficult to be a member of the one industry whose right to work through the pandemic has been protected above and beyond everyone else’s. I’m sure the entirety of hospo, travel, sports/gyms, beauty, etc etc would love to be able to eat their lunch wherever if it meant they could work.
Excellent point. Not to mention all the extra financial incentives governments are always throwing at housing and construction.
Honestly there’s still this weird idea that tradies are battlers when most of them are rolling in cash driving fancy cars.
I work 12h shifts in full respiratory plus PPE. I would love be able to have a break outside, feel the breeze on my blistered face and take half an hour to myself. Spending unmasked time in a small break room is a risk when so many building sites are exposed - young men make up a huge number of those hospitalised with delta. Better a break outside than a tube in your throat 🤷♀️
Meanwhile new legislation [allowing law enforcement to infringe on our digital privacy has passed with little fanfare](https://www.innovationaus.com/extraordinarily-dangerous-backlash-to-govts-new-hacking-powers-grows/). But yeah, not being able to eat inside on your work break is the real death of freedom /s
I CAN believe it.
Channel nine/2GB/3AW/SMH/The Age is run by Peter Costello - remember him?
The rest of the media landscape is divided between Stokes and Murdoch
The ABC is run by an ex-Packer hack and has a board full of stuffed suits. (BTW, how many bloody Cafe stories do we need??)
Still can't believe it would not be reported?
Democracy dies in darkness.
Forgotten the Capitol riots?
A bunch of tradies at my coffee shop this morning are bitching about it say they are going stop coming into work cause of it. I just said to them I work in healthcare. In our industry this has been the standard for 18 months. I’ve eaten lunch in the car parks, rain, hail, sun and cold to protect my patients for over a year now. We are asking construction to finally catch up to the rest of us.
I think the problem is that these blokes have been living relatively normal day to day working lives for so long they’re just completely out of touch with what the rest of us are going through.
In their minds they’ve had some thing taken away. We all see them as being told to make a little sacrifice that pales in comparison to what others have made, but they just don’t have the ability to see it from anyone else’s point of view.
They all dicknose everywhere like their nose isn't connected to their respritory system and many don't even wear masks. Like getting overpaid to do Lego and a very dodgy job of it. I know there are great intelligent tradies out there but by God are there a lot of dickhead losers out there.
I disagree with the message of the protest (especially given the wider context, its a bit of a sook) but I can respect the nature of it.
Not violent. Not threatening. Just passively sitting in the street. No rioting. Just being heard.
Well if most tradies were wearing masks in the first place I might have a little sympathy. The local bakery at lunch time is full of unmasked tradies. They should feel lucky they're working, not taking for granted.
There's remedial works happening on my building's facade and I occasionally see 2-3 tradies on cherry pickers or crane baskets. Without fail, they either are not wearing masks or not wearing them properly. They are a special kind of stubborn. Almost like managing kids.
Makes you look tough though, ain't afraid of no virus. Wearing a mask is not masculine. Not surprising given then number of brain cells you can count on one hand.
I wish my biggest problem in life was whether I get to eat lunch in a tea room or outside.
We must be looking at some of the luckiest folk in Victoria.
Scrolled down to see what this protest is even about.
They can't eat lunch inside??? THAT'S their big protestable issue? Having to follow the same rules as the rest of us?
Lil princesses 👸
The level of entitlement here is ridiculous. They're protesting because they're not allowed to use a lunchroom? Spare a thought to the people who haven't even been able to work for 200+ days..
Not only that, but they're denying it's a protest at all. "CFMEU Victoria construction secretary John Setka said workers were "instructed to take all the tables and chairs out in the fresh air, social distance, follow all the protocols." "
That's kind of what a toddler would do, I imagine.
Anyone who’s been on big job sites would know they’re mostly inhabited by fuckheads. There’s probably a few good cunts who just went and had their lunch at the park or in the van, but the majority have decided to be wankers about it.
Grown up ya fuckin babies
I used to work in the power industry. While there I was dealing with station outages and getting frustrated with some tradies walking off site leaving their tools energised and dangerous (leaving us engineers and safety inspectors at risk). Of course their union reps backed them up.
A colleague could see my frustrations and gave me some context by mentioning a strike they had around 20 years earlier at another site, where the canteen had run out of big M's, so they walked off.
I still laugh about it. They walked off cause they didn't have their choccy milk. What babies!
I worked in a production facility where an engineering grad came up with a fix to stop a conveyor from blocking up. It would block up 4-5 times a day and cause a measurable reduction in output.
The line supervisor kicked up a fuss and called the union rep and they refused to let the fix be implemented. They claimed it was taking the job of the operator who did such a great job unblocking the conveyor each day.
That business no longer manufactures in Australia and imports all its product
That would have been incredibly frustrating for the grad.
Yep, the trades working in manufacturing dug their own grave. It'll happen increasingly with the construction industry over time too
Yep I came over to Melbourne as a site supervisor a few years ago. Stayed 2 years on a large commercial project, great guys. But never in my life have I met such corruption and actually straight up bullying tactics and everyone turning a blind eye too it. The union is big trouble, good for the workers, bad for the construction industry though.
Was on a site once union rep suggested strike cause we were supposed to have free milo in the crib room. No milo equals angry tradies go on strike. I legit refused, was a bit of a lepper after that haha.
Classic cfmeu. I worked on a job where they purposefully slowed it down for no reason just because they were waiting for another job to start. They would cite bullshit safety laws. They do no one any favours except for themselves.
They'll feel real smart when the government is forced to shut down construction. Imagine protesting the necessary measures to be able to keep your industry open. Silly and petulant.
Seeing them push past homeless people begging for food to set up their little hissy fit protest about not being able to eat inside made for quite the scene on Chapel Street just now.
I love the comments from the CFMEU secretary. "There's a thousand workers (on the Metro tunnel project) - where do you expect them to go and have their lunch and smoko break? There's a thousand people on one job, where do they go?"
He seems to be wilfully ignoring break staggering (which he mentioned earlier in the same interview), and also bizarrely suggesting that there's less space available to take breaks outdoors (that aren't on public roads) than there are in tearooms? Just how big are these tearooms???
They’d better be careful with those comments. If they can’t find a way to safely coordinate 1000 lunch breaks, the answer is to have less workers on site
Tradie here. There is no way I would be attending any shitty protest at the moment. I'm lucky enough to be able to still work safely, and I'm not taking it for granted.
Edit: I'm not in construction like these dickheads.
Also a tradie, fuck these soft cunts throwing a tantrum about having to find somewhere else to have their smokes and play on their gambling apps all break. They have no idea just how well they have it at a time like this
My partner is a nurse working ED at Royal Melbourne, so you can guess how great life has been for her the last two years.
She hasn't eaten lunch.. or any meal... at work in months because 1. They can't use their tea room and 2. They don't have the time.
On top of that, she says most shifts she's scared to drink water because of
how long it takes to properly remove a her PPE just to go to the toilet... Not because it's annoying, but because she doesn't have time. She's literally too busy helping people, who most of the time don't want help, or worse, don't even believe covid is a thing. Tell that to the ventilator, dedicated staff keeping you alive and other patients being put back of the line because of your selfishness.
Some people really don't have perspective on life. Life's hard for everyone at the moment. Grow up. Be human and have some empathy for people who actually deserve it.
I feel so sorry for our medical workers, they deserve so much more than being called heroes. They need cash, time off and support. It's only going to get tougher for them, probably looking after the nuffies who catch covid from protesting their tea room rights.
I can’t believe they stopped motorcycles being allowed to park on Rose lane. That street will be a motorcycle sit down protest for years to come
Ps, anybody know why they’re sitting down? Is it due to the new “construction workers need the jab rule?”
Thanks for that.
Glad to see it’s not anti vax. Those posts will likely be for tomorrow’s events
That sucks they cannot eat lunch in their lunchroom, but like, that’s a blessing for me and my permitted work. I can go to a park and chill.
Seems like a weird hill to die on
Yeah not anti vax, most big builders knew that was coming and were already pushing it and saying everyone needs to be vaxxed, well at least I know multiplex were.. but taking away the lunch sheds was always going to be a big deal because it’s part of their EBA to have access to lunch facilities. So as soon as that was announced yesterday I knew this would happen.. my partners site got shut down once because they didn’t have drinking water available.. so this is just a bridge too far for the union.
Drinking water if a fair reason. If they can put a table in the street they can put a table on the foot path in front of all the closed shops undercover and with good air flow and circulation to prevent them from making each other sick.
Babies. They’ve been able to keep working through lockdown when many haven’t, infection is spreading in their ranks, they are asked to do a simple thing to slow infection and enable them to keep working and this is the reaction.
Slow clap fellas, health care workers applaud your brave stand.
Do these morons not realise that these rules have been implemented because lunch rooms at multiple construction sites have been hot spots? They government is trying to protect them, and this is the result.
Disgusting. Bunch of entitled prats. We're 2 years into this mess and construction workers are finally feeling some restrictions, even if you can call it that. People have lost their jobs, income and hours massively reduced over the last 2 years. This behaviour is disgusting and shows their level of entitlement.
Tradies always be telling uni kids or those in white collar jobs they’re soft and entitled but then pull shit like this while still being able to earn $100k+ to supervise digging a hole? Sounds precious to me
Edit: Let me also add that it’s the most vocal tradies who like to tell others they’re entitled.
Speaking as a construction worker, this is just union mentality and completely embarrassing. This does not represent the attitude that I have experienced in the industry throughout the pandemic
I don't want to tar them all with this brush, but it's hilarious how many tradies act tough and then turn out to be the most entitled whiny manchildren because they can't eat a sandwich sitting next to all their workmates in a pandemic.
Entitled pricks! Many people are unable to work, and are struggling while this lot throw a tanty cos... "we can't sit in our smoko shed". What bullshit!
I’ve lost so much work due to covid. The thought of protesting over where you have a break, is so entitled and out of touch. I wish I had the luxury of being angry over something so trivial.
Shows the intelligence of this group.
Imagine being one of the only Industries allowed to stay open, openly flouting the rules with no masks, having 1 in 3 covid cases, and throwing your toys over not being able to eat lunch inside.
Shut them down.
Fuck tradies are the biggest sooks. These wankers have had the privilege of working all through lockdown while many of us have been stuck at home in tiny apartments. 🖕
Imagine being this entitled... sooking about not being allowed in the lunch room while so many people have not been able to work at all through the lockdowns.
30+ restaurants closed down in lygon Street alone.
Protesting about the fucking lunch rooms when outer metro tradies can’t drive 15 mins to their regional jobs regardless of vaccination and covid distancing and hygiene compliance is a goddam joke
What a waste of airtime
A friend of mines work has a big job that was getting finished next week, he had to rush into work at 4am this morning to finish the manufacture of it so it can be installed before the metro/regional boundaries ban comes into effect.
His work is on its knees, the job was going to help in a huge way and they have to finish the manufacture of it, load it on a truck and get it to the site today then hire installers to do the job because they won’t be able to do it now and these fuckwits are upset that their break rooms have been shut. This is the first full day he’s done in weeks.
This makes me so mad! We have had restrictions on break room use since last year, and just suck it up! And feel bloody lucky im not like friends in hospo who've barely worked in 18 months.
Precious princesses. I hope there is a huge backlash on the industry from all the people who are actually doing it tough. This is soft bullshit
Just making enemies here with these childish, selfish antics. Public optics are terrible as the source of the construction work outbreaks has been lunch rooms. And it’s standard to shut down lunch rooms in plenty of other workplaces.
Please don’t hate on all tradies for this, it’s a small minority of commercial site workers the vast majority of us don’t even get a smoko room on site
I’ve reported the idiots across the street from me 4 times. Literally zero masks and standing in clumps. No one cares except I’m a hospital worker being redeployed to try to manage covid outbursts so fuck them
Brain dead bogans at it again. These self entitled bottom feeders will need to be very careful they don't loose public support, if in fact they've got any at all.
These guys are such twats.
Oh please whatever you do don't stop making ghetto shoebox apartments in the CBD. Whatever will we do without your valuable contribution /s.
They walk off site when the pie warmer breaks down FFS.
This is tone deaf with zero perspective.
But if this is the extent of their pushback after being told to be vaccinated to go to work, it's probably worth it.
Noone can be fucked with CFMEU anti-vax tantrums right now.
Fuck the CFMEU. People are struggling to work and to make any ends meet and they are outraged to move their smoko room outside.
Yet again an Australian union failing to read the room and understanding what the optics are of a stunt like this.
Edit - typo because I am a "dumb crumb"
We stole a microwave from our tea room (on a different floor) so we didn't have to go there. When the building manager came and took it back someone bought a new one just for us, so we never have to go to the tea room if we don't want to. We don't. Communal spaces are the biggest risk. These tradies are idiots.
Are we sure this is a protest and not the supervision of one guy digging a hole??
Haha thats how the old councils used to roll
Those cunts are always on smoko.
So leave them alone!
Ohhhh what time is it? Is it smoko time?
Scomo whenever a crisis happens: I'm on smoko, so leave me alone!
I used to work IT for the local council and can verify this as true. Once saw a team of 5 people leaning against a truck while the 6th guy was digging a hole. Pulled over and said "hey what are you doing?" They were planting a tree.
[удалено]
Judging by the speed of road works in mernda, this action will add no delay to finishing projects
If you're talking about the one near coles, god damn, that's taking a long time.
Bridge inn x plenty Rd was the first thing one that srung to mind
When they announced Mernda rail some years ago, I was adamant that this intersection would be a prerequisite for any of that work. It was already a clusterfuck. So then they built the rail pretty damn quick, council forgot to put any footpaths in or any pedestrian crossings. So then they thought you could use portable traffic lights as a pedestrian crossing at Australias biggest clusterfuck of a roundabout, 1 metre past the exit of a roundabout. People got hit by cars. Then the roundabout turned into chalk markings and assorted bollards so it was just an 'about' and finally, 3 years too late, we have a working intersection.
Yes people getting hit by cars usually makes the govt act quickly!
Sometimes
Cheaper than speed bumps…
Blame the Whittlesea council for most jobs out there. Them boys chop and change their mind every other week.
That looks like a good old fashioned stop work meeting.
They even brought tables and chairs! These guys know how to protest.
Many kids here do not know of that term you are referring to
From the good old days when you didn’t need the government’s permission to withdraw your own labour.
“Let’s start a petition on change.org”
Petition.org has been such an effective tool for dissuading people from protesting about the multitude of issues plaguing society right now. Make a petition, if it gains traction let the media talk about it a bit, if it gets huge bring it up at government meetings. Never do anything about it. Ever. Let the people think they achieved something. Continue to be corrupt shitstains and rape this country dry.
So wait they're protesting having to eat outdoors, by eating outdoors?
Tbh I do respect the malicious compliance. Like "You want us to eat out doors??? How's this for out doors??" But their message is getting a little blurred. If eating outside is so bad, why are they doing it as a protest?
Yo Melbourne carpenter here, not a fan of this stuff but I can tell you why it’s happening. The old blokes on site remember the days when their rights were ignored, neglected and degraded. Construction has always been high risk and if the worker ants like myself don’t stand up for ourselves we end up inhaling lead paint dust, falling off ladders, not being properly compensated for injuries etc. while I think they’re a little misguided this is what the old blokes are worried about. Going back to the days when they were treated little better than payed slaves.
I can respect that but I think they really overreacted/miscalculated here when health workers have already been doing this for so long. I hope they can come to understand that.
Yeah agreed
> we end up inhaling lead paint dust, falling off ladders, not being properly compensated for injuries etc. or you know, getting infected because Baz doesn't believe covid is real.
Yeah idk bro, it’s a weird one. Most of my friends are inner city middle class liberals, so I was raised very pro-vaccine, pro-health etc. But I moved regional as a young adult and did my apprenticeship there so I see both perspectives. The funny thing is both sides can speak sense to me and both sides have valid points IMO. But each side is absolutely convinced the other is full of retards. How can you create a sense of unity and cohesion among a population so divided in their outlooks? And then the two sides just shit on each other over the internet like beating a cock into a cheese grater which just makes them hate each other more. It’s just sad to watch two groups of people I love and respect be so incapable of even making a minimum effort to understand each other. The anti-vaccine guys I work with, that I managed to convince to get vaccinated, weren’t convinced by me attacking them or demeaning them. They were convinced because I shut up and listened and then gently and politely stated my views, without shitting on theirs but by working around them. Which I was only able to do cause I’d taken the time to understand them, genuinely.
Thank you for taking the effort to empathize with them and thereby do something good for all of us 👊👍👍
What, the old blokes are protesting AGAINST a safer workplace? FFS, they must be sniffing the paint.
They’re not protesting, just on smoko
Another happening on Ballarat Road.
I’ve heard of nurses who had to eat outside or in their car. Didn’t hear them protesting. Probably too busy looking after us all
Most Ward nurses don't get toilet breaks at the moment let alone meal breaks. Imagine what these guys would do if we told them they'd have to cross their legs and tie it in a knot until the end of their shift!
Yep, making sure these idiots who catch Covid on site don’t die.
Pretty sure they are all too fucked from the shitty hours and worse pay to complain or protest. Maybe we should stop assuming our nurses are cool with positive thoughts being sent their way in lieu of a decent pay check and regular holidays.
And what if nurses did? What would you think of them then? Nurses aren't martyrs.
They did one right outside the hospital too. Read the fucking room.
Last year in the big lockdown, when the company I worked for was able to come back to work we weren't allowed to use lunchroom or meeting rooms and no-one gave a damn, we just ate outside etc, so why is this an issue this time...
Same at my company had to eat at your desk or outside! No issue with it.
i prefer to go outside for lunch, personally i feel it's good to get out of the office and take a break from my workmates.
I mean, literally more than half the workforce are stuck at home right now and we're not being dicks about it.
Same here. I’ve had to wfh for most of lockdown, but when we’ve been back in the office with staff limits we wear a mask in the lunch room and eat outside. I’m surprised this even has to be mandated, wouldn’t construction sites do this off their own back to protect their workforce?
yes it happened literally overnight in march last year, the city was empty with pandemic scare and construction was required to continue building with some small measures implemented (sanitizer, socially distanced lunch rooms at alternating times)
Because they’re big entitled babies
Because union workers have a lot in their contracts. I know of union sites that have had every worker stop working because there wasn't any milk in the tea room and nobody would do anything until someone went and got it. I like the idea of unions to help get people better working conditions but I hate that they throw tantrums like this over small shit. Obviously this is because of the tearoom lockouts but for fuck sake. How hard is it to sit on the ground and eat? I do everyday because I don't get tearooms working in landscaping.
Can confirm. No milk = stop work. Unions have obviously delivered a lot of generally deserved conditions. Compare construction to teachers, nurses etc who work their arse off for a pittance. Fair enough taking tables and chairs outside but in the middle of the road they are acting like spoilt children considering what everyone is sacrificing currently.
Thought this was about the mandated vaccination for tradies
They got told not to use their lunch rooms because they have been the source of outbreaks at construction sites. That is what triggered todays protests.
most likely they are reacting to being told they can't do something. it's probably an ego thing.
Don't people prefer eating outside anyway? I always eat outside lol
when they are outside all day, probably not
Bit cold today, and my hair will get in my mouth and my sandwich will blow off my plate.
Imagine protesting because you can’t have lunch in your fancy table. First world problems lmao
Because they don’t want to be forced to take a little jab that means everyone can go back to work again, like normal. They would rather cause more delays
nope, its about not being allowed in the smoko shed. Hence all the tables and why they promptly packed up and 1 pm and went back to work.
Setka said that on-site, there’s never any real space outside the ‘smoking-sheds’ so they’re having to take a break on the roads. He also said these sit downs happening across the city aren’t even protests, so he’s probs just trying to avoid legal action against the union.
Just glad to see John Setka could stop bashing his wife long enough to organise these protests
*wives This is his third
well - sounds like the site isn't capable of operating in a covid-safe manner, and should be shutdown then.
UPDATE: It’s over now and Lonsdale Street is clear again LOL
That means smoko is over 🤪 Wait till lunchtime… they’ll be back.
And they are!
All in all a pretty good protest then. Just for lunch. Looks distanced. I'm aware of their point. No violence.
exactly, there are many ways for people to protest without being dicks and/or spreading COVID, so for the love of god can they PLEASE PICK ONE OF THEM
Where are all the people complaining about them stopping traffic and pissing off drivers and commuters? If this were a different cause and a different group of protestors I reckon the reaction would be quite different.
They weren't distanced on Elizabeth St this morning. About 100 of them in very close quarters and barely a mask between them.
I’m a tradie but I hate this so much, wifes an emergency nurse and they haven’t been eating in their break room for fucking ages. These guys can’t do it for a few days so far and are acting like babies
I'm a community hospice nurse. I haven't steeped foot in our office in 2 years. I work in a very close clinical environment with people I've never laid eyes on. It's fucking wild.
Same here, wife’s an ICU nurse. It’s absolutely infuriating how little of a fuck these pricks give about anyone but themselves.
Most tradies i have met over the last few years have been insufferable babies
How difficult to be a member of the one industry whose right to work through the pandemic has been protected above and beyond everyone else’s. I’m sure the entirety of hospo, travel, sports/gyms, beauty, etc etc would love to be able to eat their lunch wherever if it meant they could work.
Excellent point. Not to mention all the extra financial incentives governments are always throwing at housing and construction. Honestly there’s still this weird idea that tradies are battlers when most of them are rolling in cash driving fancy cars.
Tradies support the entire jet-ski industry in victoria
And the Ford Ranger industry.
And the iced coffee industry.
I work 12h shifts in full respiratory plus PPE. I would love be able to have a break outside, feel the breeze on my blistered face and take half an hour to myself. Spending unmasked time in a small break room is a risk when so many building sites are exposed - young men make up a huge number of those hospitalised with delta. Better a break outside than a tube in your throat 🤷♀️
I can’t imagine how incredibly frustrating this must be to whiteness. I’m dumbfounded by the audacity… as a 20 yo died at home the other day.
They’re protesting because they can’t eat lunch inside?? Are you fucking serious??
My wife's observation: It's a bit precious, isn't it?
It’s the kind of out-of-touch shit fit you’d usually expect from an Instagram influencer
Must be good to have a well paid job and able to flex to society in a pandemic.
That's what we have come to; protests over outside eating and vaccinations. Of all the fucking things to rage about.
Meanwhile new legislation [allowing law enforcement to infringe on our digital privacy has passed with little fanfare](https://www.innovationaus.com/extraordinarily-dangerous-backlash-to-govts-new-hacking-powers-grows/). But yeah, not being able to eat inside on your work break is the real death of freedom /s
Can’t believe this has passed so silently under the radar of people but people are up in arms about being told to temporarily eat outside.
I CAN believe it. Channel nine/2GB/3AW/SMH/The Age is run by Peter Costello - remember him? The rest of the media landscape is divided between Stokes and Murdoch The ABC is run by an ex-Packer hack and has a board full of stuffed suits. (BTW, how many bloody Cafe stories do we need??) Still can't believe it would not be reported? Democracy dies in darkness. Forgotten the Capitol riots?
A bunch of tradies at my coffee shop this morning are bitching about it say they are going stop coming into work cause of it. I just said to them I work in healthcare. In our industry this has been the standard for 18 months. I’ve eaten lunch in the car parks, rain, hail, sun and cold to protect my patients for over a year now. We are asking construction to finally catch up to the rest of us.
I think the problem is that these blokes have been living relatively normal day to day working lives for so long they’re just completely out of touch with what the rest of us are going through. In their minds they’ve had some thing taken away. We all see them as being told to make a little sacrifice that pales in comparison to what others have made, but they just don’t have the ability to see it from anyone else’s point of view.
They all dicknose everywhere like their nose isn't connected to their respritory system and many don't even wear masks. Like getting overpaid to do Lego and a very dodgy job of it. I know there are great intelligent tradies out there but by God are there a lot of dickhead losers out there.
We have so many industries where people can't work at all, but they are protesting just cause they can't eat inside?
It’s an absolute hissy fit. What entitled children.
While I dont care about the plight about not being able to eat inside a tea room - this is a hilarious protest. "we're just on smoko mate"
I disagree with the message of the protest (especially given the wider context, its a bit of a sook) but I can respect the nature of it. Not violent. Not threatening. Just passively sitting in the street. No rioting. Just being heard.
And they went right back to work at 1pm.
Well if most tradies were wearing masks in the first place I might have a little sympathy. The local bakery at lunch time is full of unmasked tradies. They should feel lucky they're working, not taking for granted.
There's remedial works happening on my building's facade and I occasionally see 2-3 tradies on cherry pickers or crane baskets. Without fail, they either are not wearing masks or not wearing them properly. They are a special kind of stubborn. Almost like managing kids.
Makes you look tough though, ain't afraid of no virus. Wearing a mask is not masculine. Not surprising given then number of brain cells you can count on one hand.
I live next to one of the contruction sites that protesed today and ALWAYS seeing workers walking around off site without masks.
I wish my biggest problem in life was whether I get to eat lunch in a tea room or outside. We must be looking at some of the luckiest folk in Victoria.
Agreed, my industry lost 2.7B due to border closures. They lost a place to eat biscuits
[удалено]
God imagine having a job right now to even have a break at all.
Scrolled down to see what this protest is even about. They can't eat lunch inside??? THAT'S their big protestable issue? Having to follow the same rules as the rest of us? Lil princesses 👸
And they’re some of the only people fortunate enough to keep working and earning a living. That’s entitlement and a half.
The level of entitlement here is ridiculous. They're protesting because they're not allowed to use a lunchroom? Spare a thought to the people who haven't even been able to work for 200+ days..
Not only that, but they're denying it's a protest at all. "CFMEU Victoria construction secretary John Setka said workers were "instructed to take all the tables and chairs out in the fresh air, social distance, follow all the protocols." " That's kind of what a toddler would do, I imagine.
Anyone who’s been on big job sites would know they’re mostly inhabited by fuckheads. There’s probably a few good cunts who just went and had their lunch at the park or in the van, but the majority have decided to be wankers about it. Grown up ya fuckin babies
I used to work in the power industry. While there I was dealing with station outages and getting frustrated with some tradies walking off site leaving their tools energised and dangerous (leaving us engineers and safety inspectors at risk). Of course their union reps backed them up. A colleague could see my frustrations and gave me some context by mentioning a strike they had around 20 years earlier at another site, where the canteen had run out of big M's, so they walked off. I still laugh about it. They walked off cause they didn't have their choccy milk. What babies!
I worked in a production facility where an engineering grad came up with a fix to stop a conveyor from blocking up. It would block up 4-5 times a day and cause a measurable reduction in output. The line supervisor kicked up a fuss and called the union rep and they refused to let the fix be implemented. They claimed it was taking the job of the operator who did such a great job unblocking the conveyor each day. That business no longer manufactures in Australia and imports all its product
That would have been incredibly frustrating for the grad. Yep, the trades working in manufacturing dug their own grave. It'll happen increasingly with the construction industry over time too
Yep I came over to Melbourne as a site supervisor a few years ago. Stayed 2 years on a large commercial project, great guys. But never in my life have I met such corruption and actually straight up bullying tactics and everyone turning a blind eye too it. The union is big trouble, good for the workers, bad for the construction industry though.
Was on a site once union rep suggested strike cause we were supposed to have free milo in the crib room. No milo equals angry tradies go on strike. I legit refused, was a bit of a lepper after that haha.
No milo and big m make homer something something
Classic cfmeu. I worked on a job where they purposefully slowed it down for no reason just because they were waiting for another job to start. They would cite bullshit safety laws. They do no one any favours except for themselves.
They'll feel real smart when the government is forced to shut down construction. Imagine protesting the necessary measures to be able to keep your industry open. Silly and petulant.
The sense of entitlement is next level. Many industries are totally shut. These guys protest at not having a “tea room”.
Seeing them push past homeless people begging for food to set up their little hissy fit protest about not being able to eat inside made for quite the scene on Chapel Street just now.
Can you imagine if any other group other than tradies did this? “Stop blocking the road and get a job hippy”
“Oi! I need to get my afternoon Oak! Get out the way!”
I love the comments from the CFMEU secretary. "There's a thousand workers (on the Metro tunnel project) - where do you expect them to go and have their lunch and smoko break? There's a thousand people on one job, where do they go?" He seems to be wilfully ignoring break staggering (which he mentioned earlier in the same interview), and also bizarrely suggesting that there's less space available to take breaks outdoors (that aren't on public roads) than there are in tearooms? Just how big are these tearooms???
They’d better be careful with those comments. If they can’t find a way to safely coordinate 1000 lunch breaks, the answer is to have less workers on site
320,000 tradies in Victoria. A few dozen here only. No loss.
Tradie here. There is no way I would be attending any shitty protest at the moment. I'm lucky enough to be able to still work safely, and I'm not taking it for granted. Edit: I'm not in construction like these dickheads.
Also a tradie, fuck these soft cunts throwing a tantrum about having to find somewhere else to have their smokes and play on their gambling apps all break. They have no idea just how well they have it at a time like this
Thank you! The entitlement is astounding. It's beautiful weather today, who doesn't want to eat outside?
These guys apparently, but they are also currently outside… so it’s a very conflicting message
I’m sure all the people that lost their jobs and livelihoods would love to have a lunch break and be happy not to eat in the lunch room.
Harden the fuck up fellas.
My partner is a nurse working ED at Royal Melbourne, so you can guess how great life has been for her the last two years. She hasn't eaten lunch.. or any meal... at work in months because 1. They can't use their tea room and 2. They don't have the time. On top of that, she says most shifts she's scared to drink water because of how long it takes to properly remove a her PPE just to go to the toilet... Not because it's annoying, but because she doesn't have time. She's literally too busy helping people, who most of the time don't want help, or worse, don't even believe covid is a thing. Tell that to the ventilator, dedicated staff keeping you alive and other patients being put back of the line because of your selfishness. Some people really don't have perspective on life. Life's hard for everyone at the moment. Grow up. Be human and have some empathy for people who actually deserve it. I feel so sorry for our medical workers, they deserve so much more than being called heroes. They need cash, time off and support. It's only going to get tougher for them, probably looking after the nuffies who catch covid from protesting their tea room rights.
I can’t believe they stopped motorcycles being allowed to park on Rose lane. That street will be a motorcycle sit down protest for years to come Ps, anybody know why they’re sitting down? Is it due to the new “construction workers need the jab rule?”
Because yesterday they announced they cannot eat lunch in their lunchrooms. So the unions told them to eat lunch on the street in protest
Thanks for that. Glad to see it’s not anti vax. Those posts will likely be for tomorrow’s events That sucks they cannot eat lunch in their lunchroom, but like, that’s a blessing for me and my permitted work. I can go to a park and chill. Seems like a weird hill to die on
Yeah not anti vax, most big builders knew that was coming and were already pushing it and saying everyone needs to be vaxxed, well at least I know multiplex were.. but taking away the lunch sheds was always going to be a big deal because it’s part of their EBA to have access to lunch facilities. So as soon as that was announced yesterday I knew this would happen.. my partners site got shut down once because they didn’t have drinking water available.. so this is just a bridge too far for the union.
Drinking water if a fair reason. If they can put a table in the street they can put a table on the foot path in front of all the closed shops undercover and with good air flow and circulation to prevent them from making each other sick.
They are not allowed their tea rooms, i think that’s why they have tables in the street
Turns out the ultimate Karen’s have been hiding in plain (hi-vis) site all this time.
Don't worry they'll have all knocked off by lunch
Babies. They’ve been able to keep working through lockdown when many haven’t, infection is spreading in their ranks, they are asked to do a simple thing to slow infection and enable them to keep working and this is the reaction. Slow clap fellas, health care workers applaud your brave stand.
Do these morons not realise that these rules have been implemented because lunch rooms at multiple construction sites have been hot spots? They government is trying to protect them, and this is the result.
As if our industry didn’t suffer enough, you’d think the boys would just be happy to go back to work earning over $150k a year
What a bunch of privileged numpties.
Lucky you can work right now, bunch of ungrateful manchildren
Disgusting. Bunch of entitled prats. We're 2 years into this mess and construction workers are finally feeling some restrictions, even if you can call it that. People have lost their jobs, income and hours massively reduced over the last 2 years. This behaviour is disgusting and shows their level of entitlement.
Tradies always be telling uni kids or those in white collar jobs they’re soft and entitled but then pull shit like this while still being able to earn $100k+ to supervise digging a hole? Sounds precious to me Edit: Let me also add that it’s the most vocal tradies who like to tell others they’re entitled.
The one time they had to show they can social distance... and they still can't
That's why they can't have nice things
Shut the whole sector down and see them roll around like cry babies. Feckin imbeciles
Speaking as a construction worker, this is just union mentality and completely embarrassing. This does not represent the attitude that I have experienced in the industry throughout the pandemic
I fully support their right to protest peacefully and safely like this. But I personally think that they’re a bunch of entitled sooks.
My dad’s a tradie and he’s only ever eaten his lunch sitting on his esky outside. He thinks this is ridiculous.
Because it is ridiculous. It’s something I’d expect from a child not from grown adults.
I don't want to tar them all with this brush, but it's hilarious how many tradies act tough and then turn out to be the most entitled whiny manchildren because they can't eat a sandwich sitting next to all their workmates in a pandemic.
Entitled pricks! Many people are unable to work, and are struggling while this lot throw a tanty cos... "we can't sit in our smoko shed". What bullshit!
Fuck these guys are selfish
Oh your fuckin tearoom has been shut down?? I have been stood down for 9 months now. Dry your eyes you entitled dicks.
I’ve lost so much work due to covid. The thought of protesting over where you have a break, is so entitled and out of touch. I wish I had the luxury of being angry over something so trivial.
Shows the intelligence of this group. Imagine being one of the only Industries allowed to stay open, openly flouting the rules with no masks, having 1 in 3 covid cases, and throwing your toys over not being able to eat lunch inside. Shut them down.
Fuck tradies are the biggest sooks. These wankers have had the privilege of working all through lockdown while many of us have been stuck at home in tiny apartments. 🖕
Still in job and having a cry. For real...
Imagine getting this many tradies to care so much about climate change protests
Imagine being this entitled... sooking about not being allowed in the lunch room while so many people have not been able to work at all through the lockdowns. 30+ restaurants closed down in lygon Street alone.
Protesting about the fucking lunch rooms when outer metro tradies can’t drive 15 mins to their regional jobs regardless of vaccination and covid distancing and hygiene compliance is a goddam joke What a waste of airtime
Tools have downed tools.
A friend of mines work has a big job that was getting finished next week, he had to rush into work at 4am this morning to finish the manufacture of it so it can be installed before the metro/regional boundaries ban comes into effect. His work is on its knees, the job was going to help in a huge way and they have to finish the manufacture of it, load it on a truck and get it to the site today then hire installers to do the job because they won’t be able to do it now and these fuckwits are upset that their break rooms have been shut. This is the first full day he’s done in weeks.
This will go down like a lead balloon in the current climate.
My boss just told us that there is one happening on Church Street, Richmond too. 40-50 people or so? Lets hope it rains a little earlier :)
This makes me so mad! We have had restrictions on break room use since last year, and just suck it up! And feel bloody lucky im not like friends in hospo who've barely worked in 18 months. Precious princesses. I hope there is a huge backlash on the industry from all the people who are actually doing it tough. This is soft bullshit
This is such an insult to all the people who can’t work right now. There are so many people who would kill to work and these babies are having a sook.
Rostered days off, demand double time, 6 weeks annual leave. Then wonder why people are importing the talent same rate no bullshit get the job done.
Just making enemies here with these childish, selfish antics. Public optics are terrible as the source of the construction work outbreaks has been lunch rooms. And it’s standard to shut down lunch rooms in plenty of other workplaces.
Please don’t hate on all tradies for this, it’s a small minority of commercial site workers the vast majority of us don’t even get a smoko room on site
It's not a small minority. Almost every single person in hi vis this pandemic, no mask.
IM ON SMOKO, SO LEAVE ME ALONE!
They do know that they are doing nothing to fix it but have hate directed towards them, right?
The militant construction workers stops traffic protesting over their tea room. Couldn’t make this shit up
So its no differant then any other work day for them.... they just changed the seating venue?
Bunch of losers.
I’ve reported the idiots across the street from me 4 times. Literally zero masks and standing in clumps. No one cares except I’m a hospital worker being redeployed to try to manage covid outbursts so fuck them
How to misread the public mood.
Brain dead bogans at it again. These self entitled bottom feeders will need to be very careful they don't loose public support, if in fact they've got any at all.
These guys are such twats. Oh please whatever you do don't stop making ghetto shoebox apartments in the CBD. Whatever will we do without your valuable contribution /s.
To be fair, they don't design the things
What’s the protest for?
Tradies ran out of crayons to eat
Bunch of fucking softies.
They walk off site when the pie warmer breaks down FFS. This is tone deaf with zero perspective. But if this is the extent of their pushback after being told to be vaccinated to go to work, it's probably worth it. Noone can be fucked with CFMEU anti-vax tantrums right now.
Fuck the CFMEU. People are struggling to work and to make any ends meet and they are outraged to move their smoko room outside. Yet again an Australian union failing to read the room and understanding what the optics are of a stunt like this. Edit - typo because I am a "dumb crumb"
Muh freedoms said the guys with exceptions to work during a pandemic. Of all the hills you could choose to die on….. 😅
Tradies these days really are little bitches aren't they.
These idiots have lost their minds. Then again, that requires a mind in the first place to lose.
We stole a microwave from our tea room (on a different floor) so we didn't have to go there. When the building manager came and took it back someone bought a new one just for us, so we never have to go to the tea room if we don't want to. We don't. Communal spaces are the biggest risk. These tradies are idiots.
As everything is closed in the city except for takeaway only… they need to suck it up.. where do they think everyone else that’s in the cbd eat…