We all have one or two common traits in us (passion & commitment). The suggestion for apprenticeship is good. We could see such a continuation of our trade being followed by a younger generation before and after our retirement.

To guarantee your job for life ..... ha! ha! that depends on you if you choose to stay and not complaining about your annual salary increment of a mere 2.75%. Will younger people think of moving from place to place nowadays? The trend is always there. Why? ... simple ... every job they hop comes with a few hundred dollar jump. Its happening too frequently here (for non contract I mean).

Regards

Hey Darth, is this a wind-up Mate? "Arborfield" (and Bordon) to move to South Wales. The final insult!

So, shall we form a consortium and make a bid?

Why would anybody want the same job throughout his (her) life, Roger? Sounds like extreme sadness to me!

Are apprenticeships available in Singapore, by the way ... or is it just another society with pathetic short-term goals of the "get rich quick" variety?

Some wise old dude or other (I think he was living rough at the time) once muttered something like "there's more to life than money". I think he had a point, don't you?

The edited remark was the last paragraph. You can tell a lot about a place when someone is asked about either leaving, employment insurance or the need for a union and the answer is either why would they do that or why would we need one!

I believe it was down to a term what was called "company loyalty", which due to poor employer/employee relations in most companies is now dead!

Granted that many blokes were effectively trapped in days gone by (eg, in the "steel towns", "mill towns", dockyards, shipyards, and at the various coal-fields dotted around Great Britain, etc.) ... otherwise, I would argue that staying "loyal" to a single company throughout one's working life was more a case of "couldn't be bothered" (or, perhaps, lacking the wits) to imagine anything else! In short, not much less than a waste of a life!

PS: note also that, for many of the aforementioned "trapped" blokes, service in the Armed Forces (even in times of war) would have come as a blessed relief!

Geoff,

Not any more apprenticeship as it has died years ago. The scenario has changed and no one wants an apprenticeship for they are better qualified now and can afford to choose the employer.

I think everyone needs to balance between life and money though money is important but life ( I mean health) is even more important that anything.

Our younger generation here (those who just started working) had a tendency to move from one place to another (you may say short-term goal and getting rich). These are yuppies trying to earn an extra dollar to pay up to the bank for their car, house, etc. What a sad thing for they are always chasing for their dreams.

Apprenticeships or not, it looks like "Made in England" can still remain an occasional possibility!