Fair Work cuts minimum shift for young workers
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Employers have succeeded in their cynical attempt to reduce the minimum shift for young retail workers. Fair Work Australia this week ruled that the minimum three-hour shift be reduced to 1.5 hours.
Business leaders have touted this as a victory for both employers and workers. This could not be further from the truth. A casual worker on the lowest retail youth rates gets paid roughly $9.50/hour. A ‘full’ 1.5 hour shift for this young worker would barely bring in $14. To put this in context, a daily concession train ticket costs $5.80. It will cost a student almost half their day’s wage to get to and from work.
Negotiations recently took place between the leadership of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employee’s Association (SDA) and Coles management for a new 3 year national agreement to cover all Coles employees. The proposed agreement, fully endorsed by the SDA leadership, strips back many of the rights and conditions Coles workers had fought for over previous decades, and sets the scene for future attacks on conditions.