Tree Climbers Wanted

[murphy4trees]

X wrote "Just a FYI. Industry and the wealthy (500k+ per year) pay 95% or the taxes in the US. Self employed people are taxed at 38% and have to itemize for deductions."
I'd like to know the source for that ionfo and what you mean by "taxes in the US". Certainly not 95% of the SS tax... or the sales tax, or the property or school taxes.
God Bless,
Daniel

 

[rbtree]

Sorry, xander,

but not a single thing you said is accurate....

Most businesses and the wealthy are uncanny at shielding income from taxes.

And the self employed get to deduct off the top all business expenses. An employee may have some of those same expenses, however, most can not be deducted, others can be itemized, which means tax savings, but not always as effective as off the top.

The most screwed people are middle class wage earning employees, who after taking the few standard deductions, are taxed at 27.5-39.1%, plus SS at 7.65%. http://www.irs.gov/forms_pubs/graphics/10311g87.gif

Self employment tax (SS) is around 12.5% after the deduction, so that is the only thing worse about working for yourself.

By the way, national "Tax Free" day has advanced to May 15 under that bushy fella. That is the day that the average American is done working for all the governments, and starts to keep what he earns.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Mike, what I bill out is what I make. It sais I'm a subcontractor. I pay my own GLI, taxes and whatnot. I do have an idea what the other costs payroll has. Figure about 40% of the wage total, depending on the WC cost.

My commnet was to imply that I'm making more then that now, so not looking for a job. I say bill out because what I bill is not a wage, I pay myself less, so I can hold my taxes down and buy lotsa stuff.

BUT, the average climber is concerned with what is paid out, not the cost to the employer. Good employers find good people and keep them, and pay them well.

Like I said $19 is not bad pay around here, less so out in your area, if you want to own a house.

If small companies in this industry want to get and keep good climbers, they need to pay wages that will compete with other elabor industries. I know a couple of good climbers with young families that went into construction or concrete so they could support their loved ones better.

 

[spreaderman]

agree with Tim G.

I have class A CDL with all but doubles an triples endorsements and have had since the law was passed in '92, but it is like Tim said climbers don't have licenses or car or something, it is more climbers without a CDL and more truckdrivers that don't climb that makes a person that has both a CDL and climbing experience uncommon ...........

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

A lot of the multi crew companies require CDL because the buckets and dumps require them. Many nonCDL trucks require a rated driver if pulling a skidder, gross weight thing.

So you have the CDL equipment you want the high paid help to drive from site to site, not the cheap labor. I know a number of guys with CDL, 'specialy if they worked for a landscraper at one time.

 

[xander9727]

Originally posted by rbtree
Sorry, xander,

but not a single thing you said is accurate....

Most businesses and the wealthy are uncanny at shielding income from taxes.

Am I to assume that Phillip Morris, Budweiser, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Procter and Gamble, etc. don't pay millions of dollars every year in taxes? Are you really so naive that you believe the majority of our taxes are paid by people making 50k or less? Keep in mind our country doesn't run on income tax alone.

 

[murphy4trees]

X said "Are you really so naive that you believe the majority of our taxes are paid by people making 50k or less?"
That's not what you said before.....
I Am still asking for the source of your original info.
God Bless,
Daniel

 

[xander9727]

Not to get into a unnecessary debate, I did say in my first post that "industry and the wealthy" pay 95% of the taxes. The corporations I listed in my second post are the industry I was talking about. I will find the source and email it to you. Give me a few days to find it.

 

[blackwaterguide]

help wanted

couldn't agree more with those who say that's too dadgum cheap. Climb, drive, and probably make coffee and a hand-warming fire. Don't forget cleanup. After all the equipment expenditure it is rediculously low. Maybe they don't expect alot of production, though. Logging taught me that skidders are lower maintenance than saws per thousand gross. Now add ropes, saddle and spurs, etc. No, I don't believe it to be a jump at deal. Course I was looking for a job when I found what I got!

 

[Jock]

Climbers required

Hi I'm also looking for 2 climbers,and 2 groundsmen to work on a rail contract in liverpool and london, i dont give a ???? how many years experience you have , but if you are no use you wont be there longer than a day!!! you also wont get a free days pay for turning up and trying!! the rates are £140.00 per day for climbers and £120.00 per day for groundsmen, need a squad of 4 to work 8am till 4pm 5 days a week, find your own accomadation and transport, and go home and grumble to your wife or your mates in the pubs about how hard you are being worked, cause i dont care....................sound harsh?.....its not ....I just been screwed by approx £2000.00 by some supposedly experienced climbers and groundsmen that sat for a week chatting amongst themselves and how hard life was clearing veg and trees,and how dangerous there job was and how low paid they were. I am seriously thinking of bringing in labour from eastern europe, where people appreciate the opportunity to earn a good honest living........Jock

 

[Newfie]

The trend is likely to continue. Not many people looking for a boss who doesn't care about the employee as long as they show up and shut up. Hard working self respecting people don't work for loud-mouths very long.

maybe save yourself some effort and move to eastern europe. Plenty of labor to choose from as they have been abused for 60 years (longer in some countries) and whatever you can dish out is childs play to them

 

[TREETX]

Maybe he doesn't want to take advantage of people, maybe he is just looking for someone who doesn't mind WORKING for their money.

Like the Mexican guys here, they do $hit jobs because they are happy to get the cashola and the show up and get the job done instead of sitting around and talking about how $hitty the job is.

If you give a lot of lip, you have to be willing to take a lot of lip. The happy medium is called COMMUNICATION.

 

[Newfie]

I agree Treetx, but his approach to getting good labor is all wrong. There is nothing wrong with expecting guys to work hard and have high expectations from your employees. Getting that comes with a modicum of respect. Don't treat and judge a new employee differently because of bad experiences with previous ones.

Hiring quality employees usually occurs because the job attracts quality candidates who can then be screened through a hiring process. Jock is eliminating a bunch of people who are probably exactly the kinds of people he would love to have working for him but won't even bother applying because he comes across as rude, abrasive and hard to work for. So he will continue to get the bottom of the barrel for local labor. I was trying to make the point that cheap imported labor is that way because they have no expectations of fair treatment or respect and they need the money(probably because they won't be hired by the bigots for work they are trained for, ie engineers and doctors collecting garbage)

Sort of like those sellers on ebay that put in big caps,no deadbeat bidders. That's an invitation for a$$holes.

 

[Jock]

Sraighten the point

Hi Guys, just to make the point clear,,, I am not looking for cheap labour and certainly would not abuse any worker either physically , mentally, or financially, East Europeans would be paid the same rates as the guys here, which is a very good rate and they can do what they like with the money, provided they keep working, my point was that most guys here see rail work as an 8 hour cigarette and coffee break......I cant pinpoint the problem they have, ive tried many times, around 10 days ago myself and some rail official walked on unexpectedly and nothing was being done , whats wrong i asked why no work?..... JUST FINISHING LUNCH, was the answer, this was 11am!!! we looked around went off track, I walked over a bridge around 1 1/2 hours later ...guess what? MORE LUNCH....I had 2 Romanians working as groundsmen for 4 weeks , feeding chippers, clearing brash, these 2 guys spoke perfectly good english, they got the same rates as the rest of the guys, they were respectful and probably the best groundsmen I have seen, but guess what ....my guys put all the work on to them, but due to visa regulations they had to return home, I wll employ them again after christmas and probably more in the near future, really as an employer of national labour, I have came to the conclusion along with countless other employers that local labour is becoming harder and harder to find and most people involved in rail work are actually 'Unemployable' its a bad thing to have to admit to but its the truth. I rest my case.....Jock..

 

[Acer]

Re: Climbers required

Originally posted by Jock
the rates are £140.00 per day for climbers and £120.00 per day for groundsmen,

These must be self employed rates, right? When I worked on railway work, I was only getting £45/day before stoppages. We had a bonus system as well, if we cleared a set section on time.

The quality of railway lineside work in this country is probably similar to the worst power line clearance work in the US. The contracts pay by the metre/yard cleared, so the pressure is on to clear as much as possible as quickly as possible. The casualties are, of course, safety and quality of work. Despite reams of safety paperwork, the work is unnecesarily dangerous. Most of the climbers I saw on these sort of jobs had no rigging abilities. They provided our gang with a chipper tractor with a hydraulic winch on the front, so everything was winched over rather than climbed and dismantled..yards away from a working main railway line!! They also had us climbing at night, with a little miner's light on our hard hats! Sounds like things haven't improved, as there is more competition for this sort of work, pushing prices down - contractors then cut every corner they can to make money.

I don't travel by train that much, but the last example of railway clearance work I saw was between Manchester and the lake district. From the train, it looked like mile after mile of devastation, like those world war 1 pictures of woods after heavy shelling. At the end of this were a chipper and three fat blokes in hi viz jackets asleep on a grass bank. Wasn't your gang, was it Jock?

 

[Acer]

oops, posted by mistake, but don't seem to be able to delete..

 

[Jock]

Probably Acer , though the work sounds a bit rough for my crew....

 

[Jock]

Hi Acer, £45.00 per day????????????, you and your mates want a job?......joking ok but listen i reckon i'm phycic, tell me if i'm wrong , it wasnt Fountains Plc, was it.......

 

[Acer]

Originally posted by Jock
tell me if i'm wrong , it wasnt Fountains Plc, was it.......

You're not wrong!! I didn't enjoy working for them, then again I don't think they thought much of me. They took me on as a climber, but once they fitted the winch onto the tractor, that's the way things were done. I ended up on the roads maintenance gang strimming round lamp posts and crash barriers on various motorways and trunk roads. The problem with them is their effect on the market. I've heard they go in with such low prices, whacking any competition. But, you get what you pay for...

 

[Rager]

I agree

with down to earth!