Gotthard Base Tunnel

Re:Gotthard Base Tunnel by trhway on Wednesday October 28, 2015 @03:32PM (#10466746)

while i'm sure the issue with the costs here and there isn't labor/salary, googled out of curiosity - for welder in US it is $30-50K/year avg, in Germany - the government mandated minimum in non-East Germany is something like 14euro/hour, in the East - 11 euro/hour.

I also would be very surprised if the Germany/Switzerland were "outsourcing" the job to Chinese companies like the US does with big infrastructure projects. I mean everybody who ever dealt with outsourcing up close knows what in reality it is completely opposite to "cost savings", instead it is a way to "digest" even more money than it would be otherwise.

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Re:Gotthard Base Tunnel by iagooar on Wednesday October 28, 2015 @05:06PM (#10467411)

Why are 2 comments putting Germany/Switzerland? This tunnel is entirely Swiss and has nothing to do with Germany.

Also, comparing salaries of those countries is just ridiculous, as Swiss salaries can be 2-3x higher on average than the German ones.

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Re:Gotthard Base Tunnel by abduhl on Wednesday October 28, 2015 @04:21PM (#10467110)

The minimum wage that can be paid for a tunnel hand in San Francisco is around $34/hr plus overtime and benefits. See http://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/pwd/Determinations/Northern/NC-02...

You have to remember that tunnel jobs are almost always run by a municipality which means that they're almost always union. I would imagine it is similar in Switzerland.

Tunneling is a niche industry and commands a high price.

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Re:Gotthard Base Tunnel by masterleep on Wednesday October 28, 2015 @06:15PM (#10467814)

We don't know that, because the government is controlling the price.

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