[BITList] Electricians vs Instruments-usual banter

[John Feltham]

G'day Frank,

On 07/07/2013, at 20:07 PM, FS <franka at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> When I did my time (HM Dockyard Portsmouth) the only instrument (makers) fitters we had repaired Chronometers, Sextants, and Various Gages. When Logic first started we used to breadboard the circuits using individual Nand gates and a rats nest of jumpers to make up the required control circuits the modern PLCs are a dream in comparison not quite sure how some things got syphoned off , at Alcoa we had a collection of ex cycle and typewriter repairers plus some ex ICI (Instrument Fitters and or Makers) working on mainly Pneumatic controls all PLCs and control circuits were designed and looked after by the elec. dept , after a couple of Foxbo courses I ended up as a Member of the "Institute of Instrument Control and Automation) but after joining the oilfield I let it lapse not being around to go to any of the pissups disguised as meetings. 

When I left the RAF I was discharged as an Electronics Technician. After applying for a "Ten Pound" trip to Australia I was advised that I could apply to the WA State Electricity Commission for a license to work as an 'Electrician'.

By then I knew that this was a thing that not everyone could get!

I went to evening classes for 6 months or so learning the theory and practical applications so that I could get a Full License.

Eventually I got my Full License but by then I had gone into my own trade. I had ended up with two "Tradesman Rights Certificates" - Electrical Fitter and "Instrument Maker and or Repairer."

I got a job at the ALCOA Aluminium plant in Kwinana, just outside Perth. Most of the guys there were ex Instrument Fitters from Tyneside Industries, as you say ICI.

I then moved up to the construction of the Robe River Iron Ore plant at Wickham.

Most of us were members of the ETU. The electricians of the ETU knew nothing about solid state electronics and consequently all the large variable DC motors that were controlled by the Instrumentation in the Control Rooms were looked after by us.

This caused a lot of ructions with the Electricians. So much so that we moved Unions to the ASE. 

Eventually after a few job moves I was offered a job as an Instrument Trades Lecturer with WA TAFE (Training and Further Education). And after gaining my Dip TT I went on to take a B.Ed in Adult and Further Education.

Not long after that the ETU started serious attempts to amalgamate the two trades. Mainly because they couldn't put up with us getting a few cents more an hour than the electricians.

My trade has now been subsumed in its entirety. I often wonder how much that cost Australian Industry in the end.

BTW I too joined the Institute in Perth but I was out of Perth more than I was in it so I soon dropped out.


ooroo