Issue

Young workers' rights

It isn’t just sweatshop workers in third world countries that can get exploited. Exploitation of workers can and does happen right here in Australia. Find out more about your rights here.

Submitted 10/11/2005 By Amy Views 58058 Comments 7 Updated 13/03/2009


Photographer : Daveblog

So what’s the issue?

Young people don’t know enough about work stuff, probably because it’s just that, boring work stuff. This includes knowing if you are casual or part time, how much you should get paid and what overtime really means.

A survey of 5,000 young people living in NSW found:
  • half didn’t know the difference between casual or permanent part-time work
  • half who thought they were part-time didn’t receive any paid leave
  • half had no written information about pay, hours of work or safety when they started from their employer
  • a quarter never got any pay slips
  • one in seven casuals worked unpaid overtime.

What the government says about young workers:
  • we are a vulnerable group in the workforce
  • we have a limited knowledge of our fundamental employment rights
  • our ability to defend our rights and interests are restricted.

Where do young workers go for help with work stuff?

The NSW survey also found:
  • half of young workers went to their boss if they thought they had been ripped off.
  • 11% would go to a union or the government
  • 18.5% would leave and find a new job
  • many young people would avoid the problem or do nothing at all!

What does this mean for young people?

It’s actually really important to know your work stuff because if you don’t some employers may take advantage you.

So what could happen to you?

These are some of the things employers may do if you don’t know your rights:
  • pay you incorrectly
  • not pay you the leave or sick leave you’re entitled to
  • tax you incorrectly
  • force you work an unpaid trial for a new job

FYI

  • Approximately 1.7 million or 62% of young people aged 15–24 had a job in Australia in 2003–2004.
  • Young people are more likely to be working now than they were 20 years ago.
  • In 1983–84, 82% of employed young people were in full-time employment, compared with 54% in 2003–04.
  • Almost half of all young workers are in retail or hospitality employment.

To find out more about your rights at work check out your state or territory’s industrial relations website.

How do I know this?

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Young people in employment http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/43BECCAF...

O'Malley, N & Pearlman, J 2005, ‘Confused young workers easy prey for exploiters’, Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/confused-young...

NSW Office of Industrial Relations 2005, Young people and work survey, http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/rights/young/

Discuss Now

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RSS Comments
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TanR16 14-Apr-2008

its certainly a good idea to read up about your rights and make sure you are really getting a fair go and being treated right !



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andrewg85 18-Feb-2007

The system is very inefficient.

The company will usually charge the client some $80 an hour for trades & services, by the time this reaches the worker, the worker gets around $20 an hour! Any wonder the company will put sh*t on average workers!

What's going on and where is the money going?

The efficiency is worse than a coal fired electric power station!

The best you can do is look at how efficiently the company is running, and if they accept any of your suggestions. If they don't, I suggest you switch jobs as that is a major contributor to your loss of wages!

Fit hydrogen boosters to the vehicles, or simple circuitry high frequency transformers to power supplies rather than the bulky 50Hz conventional transformers. Or simplify the paperwork system. Every bit counts!

My two cents,

Andrew Gardiner
www.thewaterengine.com

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Shelleyw 16-Nov-2006

What I think is the hardest part about starting out in your first career job or in a new industry is not knowing what is reasonable or, even harder, is negotiating what you should be paid. I found negotiating one of the hardest things that I had to do when first going into a job.

One of the things I did when trying to negotiate for the first time was investigate what other people who did similar jobs to me were getting paid in other companies. (it's called parity or being on par with other people in similar jobs).

Getting a job for the first time is really difficult, especially if you've not ever had any experience. A store in Melbourne gives unemployed young people, a chance in the workplace to get work expereince and work skills it's called Youthworx. Triple J's Hack did a story on this store - check out the audio here. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1745335.htm

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Kev - Lives - Here 18-Jul-2006

Industrial relations in Australia should be based on fairness.

The campaign against the Work Choices legislation isn't about ideology, its a community campaign trying to keep fairness in workplaces.

My great fear about Work Choices is that it will create a culture where young people will never know of what an award was, or a collective agreement. They will never know the benefits of unfair dismissal laws for companies with less than 100 workers. They won't have the proper option of ever collective bargaining, if they wanted to, because once a worker goes on an AWA they can never go back onto a collective agreement or an award.

Both the rights of organisations and workers has to be respected. Under the new legislation, dodgy organisations will be able to undercut wages and conditions, which means that good organisations will be pressured to meet these cuts in order to remain competitive.

No one is asking for the rights of organisations to be ignored. Workers know that they need strong, healthy organisations to remain employed. Work Choices swings the pendulum too far to in the interests of dodgy employers.

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plrgrs 15-Jun-2006

Love casual work. I don't give a stuff about rights in my workplace. I believe that the benefit of the organisation should be put first, rather than individual rights.

That said, there are some minimum standard. In my view, cold weather allowance, being paid to strike and 4-month limits on casual work are minimum rights.

It's time the pendulum swung towards the centre and satisfied the interests of workers and organisations.

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