Plumbing Connection 3-2015

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PLUMBING CONNECTION SPRING 2015 101
management – the rest pursued other careers immediately
– which in most cases required further study and additional
financial and time investment. This is not an unusual story
for a large number of university graduates. I, on the other
hand, went straight into working life, without debt and a lot
more job certainty. These days, we have an over-supply of
teachers, lawyers, IT specialists and even, for the first time
ever, doctors – yet we have an undersupply of all types of
tradesmen, especially plumbers.
What this means for plumbers now and in the future is job
and financial security, less competition from other plumbing
firms, and more profitability because of the issue of ‘high
demand and lack of supply’. The downside of course, is
that the shortage of plumbers coming through the system
means that for small and large plumbing business owners
trying to find fully-licensed plumbers, or even committed
apprentice plumbers, who excel at what they do is very hard.
We, as plumbers and tradespeople, need to be proud of
the work we do and need to encourage others to join the
industry. If we don’t represent our industry well, then we will
continue to see a decline in the numbers of young people
choosing a career that provides great freedom, variety,
physical and mental challenges, as well as great financial
security. Already, plumbing is a targeted job for gaining
visa entry to the country because of the lack of qualified
plumbers within Australia. So if none of us are pursuing the
trades, where ever our labour force comes from – it won’t be
from Australia. We will have to import all our plumbing labour
skills and what a shame that we were all too obsessed with
University education to see that the trade of plumbing offers
a bright future.
So, if you’re having a bad day on the job and think, ‘should
I have gone to university, or should I be pressuring my kids
to go to University?’ Just remember, we all have different
skills and life needs and at this point in time, and for the
foreseeable future, Australia need plumbers - smart, hard-
working plumbers. So that’s why when Michael Bloomberg
says to a bunch of educated Wall Street highflyers, ‘Today if
you want to go to college or become a plumber, you’ve got to
think, long and hard.’, I think we should all stop and listen.
Contact:
Brad Fallon is the Director of Ivy St Plumbing – specialists in
the strata management trade:
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