By Jo Brown
As new entrants to the work force, young people will be the first hit with exploitative individual employment contracts. That has been the experience in New Zealand.
In addition, the abolition of weekend penalty rates and the standard 38-hour working week, under Kennett's legislation, could halve the earnings of casual workers and part-time workers. Workers aged 15-24 are 61% of casual workers and 25% of part-time workers, so they will be badly hit. The Hewson-Howard package will also bring in $3 and $3.50 youth slave wages.
For many young workers, some of whom are trying to pay their way through education, money from weekend work is just enough to survive on the most frugal of lifestyles.
A young casual worker in a state with 46% youth unemployment has very little bargaining power with a prospective employer and often knows little of her or his rights.
Only 25% of 15-19 year old workers are unionised, according to figures supplied at the 1991 ACTU congress. While union membership has declined in general since the mid-1970s, the biggest decline has been in the 20-24 age group, which fell from 51% in 1976 to 33.5% in 1990.
The ACTU's research found: "Young men and women in their late teens and early 20s could not identify with the traditional role of unions and many failed to see the relevance of unions for themselves until presented with some threat to their own job or career prospects. Those who were not union members had a particularly negative image of union officials, whom they regarded as lacking any empathy with the interests of young workers."
Since Kennett introduced his anti-worker legislation, rank and file unionists are reporting many approaches from young workers about joining unions.
However, one young shop assistant's attempt to join the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association indicated that low unionisation among young workers may not be all their fault. When he rang the union, he was told that he had to pay $70 for six months' dues, but then was quizzed about whether he was "in trouble", because if he was, it would cost more. The young man said he wasn't in trouble, but could he be told what the benefits of membership were. He was told curtly by the union official, "You are not a member, so I cannot speak to you any more".
The youth group Resistance has called on high school and tertiary students to join the strike and rally on November