Who'd Be A ... Panel Beater
The Age
Saturday March 8, 2008
Marco Lanteri has been a panel beater for 17 years, and hastens to assure us he's not deaf. "I did a four-year apprenticeship but I actually finished it in three years," he says. "I was good at school. I became a panel beater because I liked cars, I suppose. I've worked in seven or eight panel shops in Victoria, and I've owned a couple. I do everything that there is to do in panel beating - anything to do with the panels of cars or trucks. It's a tough game these days. The insurance companies are behind the times, they still only pay $23 an hour for fixing panels. That's nowhere near enough. It's about the same amount as they used to pay when I first started. I earn about $950 clear a week but it's not enough; I'm looking for another job with more money. Interest rates have gone up again. I've thought about doing another sort of work . . . but I don't know what it is.
"But my ears are still all right. I always wear earmuffs. I know plenty of guys who have gone deaf - it's a pretty loud game."-- DAVID WILSON
© 2008 The Age
