Gear change as women take up motor trades



By Amy Noonan    

The image of a dirty motor workshop is a thing of the past and a career in the motor trades is increasingly appealing to women. Along with light and heavy mechanics – petrol mechanics and diesel mechanics – there are positions for spray painters and panel beaters and, thanks to the rise in electric and hybrid motor vehicles, an increased calling for auto-electricians.

Motor Trade Association executive director John Chapman says there is a skills shortage across the industry and now is a good time for women to start a motor trades career.

“There’s a shortage virtually in every part of the trade,” Mr Chapman says.

“In fact, our skills are on the skilled occupation list released by the Federal Government because of the ongoing shortage.

“We find a lot of the skills transfer to other areas, particularly mining, and that has certainly created a draw on our industry.”

He says women are welcome in the workshop.

“We see quite a number of young females from school looking at motor trades as an option,” he says.

“The industry has changed dramatically in the past decade in terms of the technology used in cars and the cleanliness of the workshops.

“Part of that has come from computerisation. So much of the modern-day vehicle now is electronic and the workshop environment to support that must be absolutely clean and virtually dust and dirt free.”

Tara Lamanna is one such mechanic who began studying automotives at school and transferred those skills into an apprenticeship.

A third-year apprentice employed by the MTA since she was 17, Ms Lamanna has worked at her host employer, City Holden, for the entire time. “I studied it through high school and I did a school-based apprenticeship, which takes six months off your final year,” Ms Lamanna says.

“A few girls at school did it just for fun but there was nothing else I was interested in doing.”

Ms Lamanna says she finds the industry “very accepting”.

“It’s different. It is something that wouldn’t be expected of females,” she says.

“We do get a lot of attention being girls and we get a lot of chances to go to Classic Adelaide and work on the Clipsal 500.”

There also is the ability to be able to fix your own car – no calling the RAA for Ms Lamanna.

Mr Chapman says that rather than needing physical strength, women can have an advantage by being more flexible when it comes to working in cramped spaces.
“You need to be physically fit in this day and age. In the light-vehicle area, strength is not an issue. It is being physically fit and flexible, being able to get into tight places and things like that,” he says.

“In other areas, generally occupational health and safety ensures it’s not left to one person to lift excessive weights.

“You need another person or a lifting aid.”

Mr Chapman says the motor trades offer any young person an exciting future.

“The technological development really does fit into the young person’s world, where they are the masters of technology virtually from the time they start school,” he says. “It’s a skill they can take anywhere they want to go, around Australia or the world.

“A good tradesperson will be able to find a job anywhere.”

MECHANIC WAGE

Gross weekly award rates, effective July 1, 2010.

* First year apprentice $278.70
* Second year apprentice $365.00
* Third year apprentice $497.70
* Fourth year apprentice $584.00
* Qualified mechanic $663.60

Most Motor Trade Association employer members pay above award rates and top tradespeople can earn up to $950 a week.

Article from The Advertiser, June, 2010.