doing a job im not trained or paid for

[zxr69]

hi, good evening to you all, i am looking for some advice from you good people, for the last 3 years i have been working as a heating engineers mate, (basically i am an unskilled worker ), however over the last year or so i have been given a set of drawings each morning and told to do various jobs, i was quite happy with this at first as i thought my boss was confident in my abilities, however, the other 5 guys i work with are all tradsemen with various years of experience who are paid almost double to what i am paid, now please do not get me wrong, i understand and agree that these guys have served an apprenticship and have many more years experience than i have, however i am now doing the exact same job as these guys and have asked my gaffer if i would be entitled to a pay rise, obviously not to the same pay level as the tradesmen but enough to justify what i am now doing,, my gaffer has been honest in saying that i am wasting my time asking for a pay rise especially with the current financial climate, can anyone tell me where i would stand if i refused to do the tradsemens job, would the company be in there rites to sack/ pay me off, this i dread as it is the only job i have felt comfortable and good at since leaving the army, many thanks in advance, john.

[buildersmate]

I suspect the answer is that you are being supervised by one (or more) of them and they have the responsibility of the overall success and working of the finished job. That is the difference between a tradesman and a tradesman's mate.
It is unfortunate state of affairs, but I do not believe that there is much you can do.
Why don't you try doing the C&G course to get yourself the qualifications necessary.

[zxr69]

thankyou for that buildersmate,but the annoying thing is i am not supervised, my boss does pop round occasionally to ask if things are ok, and if theings are a bit complicated then i allways get good advice from one of the tradesmen, but overall i am left to my own devices, as for gaining the neccesary qualifications i am a physical wreck come the end of the working week as for the last 9 months i have been working a minimum 14hours a day plus a 3hour round trip too and from work 6 days a week , so time is very precious with my family, thanks john.

[buildersmate]

It's very unsatisfactory for you.
In the 'old' days when apprenticeships operated, one had to serve one's time like this, more recently coupled with a day release C&G type theoretical training. But at least one got the ticket after serving the time.
Now, unless you have the ticket, you can't get the tradesmens rate and the economic climate and loss of apprenticeships means there is a lot of this sort of thing going on.
There are several jobs, of course, that you cannot legally do, and if you are not being directly supervised you could decline those - those involving gas, oil or high-pressure fittings.

[zxr69]

thanks again builders mate but those jobs you have mentioned are exactly the sort of jobs i am doing and what really surprises me is i work for a large well known company who build schools for the goverment and receive a 25 year maintainance contract for each school built, however your comments are appreciated, thanks john.

[Panic Button]

Have you tried asking if they would assist you in gaining qualifications?

Tell them you like the job, and want to stay, but also want to better yourself.

If done in a positive way, they might be sufficiently impressed that they help you.

[Rosetta]

I would really suggest that you look into ways of getting the qualifications for what you are are already doing. It may mean a lot of hard work and financial belt tightening in the short term, but in the longer term it wil be well worth it