Tim Cobon & Susan Price
Most workers understand the harsh future they face if the federal government's next round of draconian workplace "reforms" are implemented. Young workers will be among the most severely affected.
Recent surveys reveal that around 43% of young people both study and work, including 72% of 14 to 16 year-olds and 70% of university students. Their average working week is around 15 hours, with many high-school students working up to 30 hours a week. Full-time study requires at least 40 hours a week at most Australian universities.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics article "Labour force participation in Australia" (Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2005), in 1987, 32% of people aged 15 to 24 were studying full-time and, of these, 35% were participating in the labour force. By 2003, these figures had increased to 46% studying full-time, of which 50% were in the labour force — a symptom of the demise of free education.
The inadequate federal government income support for full-time students makes young people prime targets for increased exploitation by unscrupulous employers. This will only worsen under the federal government's proposed workplace laws. Young people's bargaining power is also less due to the fact that the rate of joblessness among 15 to 24 year olds is two to three times the national average.
A 2004 study by Job Watch, a Victorian employment rights legal service, showed that young people who work in fast-food outlets are prone to injury and super-exploitation. The findings are alarming, including that:
* 46% of young people suffered an injury or illness at the workplace, but 24% did not report the problem. Nearly one-third were not adequately supervised to ensure that health and safety instructions were followed and they were not exposed to risks.
* 35% experienced violence or bullying at work, including sexual harassment and assault.
* 10% were paid less than the legal minimum wage and almost 23% were not paid for attending staff meetings as is legally required.
* 32% worked shifts of 11 hours or more, and 53% worked shifts longer than eight hours.
Several recent cases of young workers being ripped off by employers give an insight into the workplace reality for young workers under the system of individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements — AWAs).
Thea Birch Fitch and Jasmin Smith, both former employees of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, made submissions to a Senate inquiry into workplace agreements. Birch Fitch described how, as well as losing allowances for uniforms and transport, she was paid $53 a week less under an individual contract than under the award. Birch Fitch had signed the contract after being threatened with a loss of hours and opportunities for promotion if she didn't sign.
Smith, who was 18 at the time she was forced to accept an AWA in 2003, said that she lost overtime rates between midnight and 6am, Saturday loadings, 50% penalty rates on Sundays and a uniform allowance. Her base hourly pay rate was also cut.
Both contracts were approved by the federal government's Office of the Employment Advocate.
Twenty-year-old Isaac Nakhla blew the whistle on his employer, a Pizza Hut franchisee, in July, revealing that he had been forced to sign away all his leave entitlements in 2004 as a condition of keeping his job. According to Gerard Dwyer, secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Union, Nakhla and his workmates were simply presented with a "take it or leave" contract that cashed out their annual leave entitlements and removed public holiday rates.
On August 11, the South Australian Industrial Relations Commission forced Bakers Delight to pay back-wages to a former employee. According to a report in the August 12 Adelaide Advertiser, in April 2003, 15-year-old Deanna Renella began working at Bakers Delight after signing an AWA she had not read. It set her wage at $8.35 per hour, 25% less than the state award.
In May this year, 18 young workers at Appaloosa Holdings, a stationary warehouse at Banksmeadow in Sydney's south-east, were told their jobs were being transferred to EL Blue, a notoriously anti-union labour-hire firm, and that they would be required to sign an AWA. The workers, aged between 16 and 25, were given five days to sign.
"It is farcical for the federal government to argue that a young worker going for their first job is in any sort of position to negotiate an individual contract with their employer", ACTU secretary Greg Combet told the August 18 Sydney Morning Herald.
Young workers and students have begun campaigning against their super-exploitation, as part of the trade union campaign against the federal government's planned industrial relations changes. In Sydney, a "Young workers fight back" rally will be held outside the Circular Quay McDonald's at 5pm on September 16. For more information, phone Resistance on (02) 9690 1977.
From Green Left Weekly, September 7, 2005.
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