The Guardian 10 October, 2007
Now to cut junior and training wages
Australia suffers a serious shortage and far from doing anything to rectify it, the actions of the Federal Government and many employers will deepen the crisis. There are reports of young workers in cafes, bars and shops whose take-home pay has been reduced by 25-30 per cent or more thanks to WorkChoices.
One 20-year-old working for a diving tour company in Cairns was being paid less than $3 an hour. A 17-year-old café worker from Brisbane lost $80 per week when she signed an AWA individual contract under WorkChoices.
TAFE teachers have reported instances of their students working four part-time jobs. One TAFE student said his manager clocked everyone off at 10 pm, but they worked another three hours which were unpaid.
"Some of students finish work at 6am and turn up at college at 8am and we expect them to perform for eight hours", said Pierre Masse, a representative of the NSW Teachers Federation. The situation has exploded since WorkChoices.
Another student was reported as working 70 hours a week on a flat rate at a Wollongong restaurant.
Apprentices employed on AWAs are on far inferior wages and conditions than those covered by collective agreements, Jim Nolan, the head trades teacher at Broken hill TAFE said.
Many young people wishing to continue studies and pursue a trade after leaving school are knocking back apprenticeships because they simply cannot survive on the low wages being offered. They can earn much more by taking up unskilled labouring or other work and are opting to that despite the longer term consequences.
"Review" wages to "rip-off" workers
The Federal Government has brought on this situation and at the end of September announced a review of junior and training wages in the Australian labour market. Unfortunately, the aim of the review is not to rectify the appalling treatment of young workers, in particular apprentices and trainees. It is not to facilitate or encourage the entry of more young people into apprenticeship or other areas of need.
The review is one of a number taking place to completely rationalise and overhaul the minimum wages system, wages classifications and finish off the destruction of the award system as the basis for determining wages and working conditions.
This particular review is being carried out by the Howard Government’s minimum wage setting body, the so-called Australian Fair Pay Commission. The Commission is simultaneously carrying out another review into Pay and Classification Scales — part of award rationalisation that will see hundreds of awards abolished, merged, stripped and replaced by a skeletal framework of absolute minimum rates and classifications to underpin collective agreements and AWAs.
The Commission has issued issues papers for its two reviews which are available on the internet (www.fairpay.gov.au).
The paper on youth and training wages defines junior employees as under the age of 21. WorkChoices exempts junior employees from the national minimum wage determined by the Commission — this rose to $522.12 per week on October 1 for full-time work. (That is an hourly rate of $14.53.)
Junior rates vary considerably between awards, agreements and AWAs — juniors on AWAs tending to be the lowest paid. A 16-year-old could expect an hourly rate of around $5 per hour, depending on the industry, a 17-year-old $6 or $7. Even within an industry there are significant variations between awards and collective agreements.
Equal pay for equal work!
Prior to WorkChoices approximately 40 per cent of awards did not contain junior rates of pay. Juniors were paid according to the work the performed, on the same basis as adults. Unions had fought hard in a number of industries to keep junior rates our of the system — employers used them to undermine adult rates and pit young workers against older workers for the same jobs.
Construction, energy, agriculture are amongst the industries where employers have failed to gain a footing with low paid rates for younger workers. The employers are pushing hard to have them introduced and apply to all young workers in all industries.
That is one of the main aims of the present review.
The employer body, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), has called on the Commission to: "… research and take submissions on the future rationalisation of junior wages towards fewer, more consolidated percentage arrangements, and the inclusion of age based junior wages in all industry minimum wages structures."
The Commission is also looking at the question of minimum wages for workers to whom training arrangements apply. At present the wages of workers on traineeships and apprenticeships are exempt from the minimum wage determined by the Fair Pay Commission. This includes adults as well as juniors. The Commission will be determining a new minimum wage or wages for those undergoing training.
The emphasis in all of its determinations regarding junior and training rates is "to ensure they are competitive in the labour market". The term "competitive in the labour market" is a euphemism for low — much lower than the wages of other workers they are competing with for work.
Trade unions, other organisations and individuals may make submissions to the Commission, the closing date is February 29, 2008 — after the election. The reviews will lay the basis for the next round of WorkChoices, by whatever new name the government comes up with. So get working now on your submission, by then it may not be a Howard Government looking at the outcomes.