Can anybody here imagine working on a large site for 8 months, then getting a tap on the shoulder from the Gaffer at 20 past 10 in the morning......sorry Bud I just got a system message email this morning.....you'r Licence is up ........"can I just finish the day out then?"....sorry no Bud we have to sack you as your Licence is void.....no insurance and all that.....no hard feelings....."ok then I'll head off after tea time".....no I need you off site right now...."I can't afford to redo my tickets"....not my prblem bud, maybe you should get a job in a burger bar...haha haha haha beat it....the office will post your P45 when the woman gets round to it....
Then the licences will come in for joiners, painters, Brickies, cleaners...etc....and it will end up like eastern Europe in the 1970's.....
The Australian system appears to have been set up years ago as they were getting a lot of sparks and builders in from overseas (i.e the UK ) and wanted to make sure that they didn't just come in and start trading but would have to get a licence beforehand....this made sure that they were changing their ways to fit in with the Australian wiring regulations when they emigrated there.....and it has just remained that way as it was the best fit for Australia....
The use of a Licence system here would just get turned against sparks, Apprentices would also get shafted here as their employer would stick them on a "provisional" licence and would just refuse to sign off on their apprenticeship so that they were knackered if they wanted to jump ship after getting time served...if they annoyed their first employer, then they would get pumped minus the licence and that would be them on the scrap heap...
I know a lot of us sparks are raging that we can't get the work we want where we want it and the money we want to earn into the bank account and we think to ourselves "if only there was a licence, there would be less of us and therefore more money for me and stuff the rest of them" but things don't work out like that, especailly in the UK....where what is made to look like an amazing good thing always gets sharpened up and turned against us....
I wouldn't try to put any ideas about licences into the gov'ts heads or we will all be stressing over membership fees, course fees, making an error when bamboozled by red tape and paperwork etc.....if that lot think that they can do it and it will make us all pay more tax, or at least satisfy them that we are paying the tax for what we declare, as face it they think that we are all cheating them...then they will do it with great delight...
Think about it, I have......look past the furious anger about not getting paid what you want.....and not getting full time continuous work......have a think about the hassle you would have with a licenced system here.......you forget to pay a membership fee....or cannot afford to go on a "refresher course" until next month because you are waiting on money you are owed coming in.....they pull your licence, any self employed work you are on gets left unfinished (and you get sued by the customer(s) for the cost of another spark completing) then you get booted off your dayjob because the licence is up...any wages owed remain unpaid because "you're not a real spark anyway how dare you have the audacity to ask for owed wages" and you lose the house due to either missing the mortgage or the amount you get sued for by private customers...
you eventually borrow some money, update your certs, re- apply for your licence (which I am guessing will be lots of form filling and fees, as well as taking weeks) then when you get your new card in....."sorry bud I looked at your work file and it says you got licence revoked 5 months ago" I just can't risk giving you a job....maybe somebody else will....good luck and all that.....the doors over there.....
