Young workers to get the pay they deserve
YOUNG workers have had a double-shot of good news in the past few weeks following two union wins that will put more money into their pockets.
In a significant case in the Fair Work Commission, retail workers aged 20 will be entitled to the full adult rate of pay from the middle of next year.
And another decision in the Commission has meant that young apprentices will be able to advance to higher levels — with more pay — more quickly.
Both outcomes will make it more difficult for employers to continue to use young workers as a cheap source of labour and pay them less than they are worth to a business.
100% pay is on the way
The retail industry decision follows a case brought by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Asociation (SDA) to pay 20-year-olds under the General Retail Industry Award full adult rates as a first step towards paying workers 18 and over full pay.
In its decision on 21 March, the FWC ruled that 20-year-olds with more than six months service will be entitled to 100% pay, phased in from July this year so that they will receive full pay by July next year.
SDA National Secretary Joe De Bruyn said the decision would go some of the way towards ending the practice of employers paying young workers less than they deserve.
“The Fair Work Commission has revealed it agrees with what we’ve been saying for a long time — that paying younger workers less than the full adult rate is an outdated and discriminatory act that needs to be rectified,” he said.
ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver said the union movement would be seeking to extend this win to 18 and 19-year-olds.
Road block removed for apprentices
An earlier decision by the Fair Work Commissionon 12 March will allow apprentices to be fast-tracked for promotion and higher pay.
The outcome is being seen by unions as a win for apprentices and the TAFE system over employers who wanted total control over decisions about the skill competency of apprentices for narrow financial reasons.
The FWC rejected the claim of the Australian Industry Group which wanted employers to have the right to veto assessments by TAFE teachers that apprentices were competent.
Unions including the Australian Manufacturing workers Union and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union fought the case.
The result backs up the AMWU’s argument that increased competency should be encouraged and rewarded as a key to improving productivity.
It also recognises the expertise and qualification of TAFE teachers and other registered training organisation instructors to determine competency against industry standards.
Liam Dutaillis, who completed his apprenticeship in Newcastle two years ago, hopes that now apprentices will be judged on training competency criteria rather than the whim of the boss.
Liam was ambitious to complete his training as a fitter-machinist early at OneSteel and met all TAFE requirements six months early.
But he was forced to wait by his manager on the basis of “leadership” and “assertiveness” within a work team where he was younger than most workmates by decades.
“It would have been fair enough if there were issues with my ability within the training plan, but I had these requirements of my manager that were verbal and really fictional to try to comply with,” he said.
“I just had to try and satisfy him and his biases. It had nothing to do with my training plan criteria, it delayed my work plans by six months, so let’s hope this decision will change things.”
A matter of pay justice
The AMWU’s National President Andrew Dettmer welcomed the decision as more good news for apprentices after the union’s success in getting pay rises ranging from 8.6% to 19% in a landmark FWC decision last year.
The rises will be paid over 2014–15, for new apprentices who began training at the start of this year.
“This is a matter of pay justice for apprentices. If their trainer is satisfied they are advancing at a fast rate then their pay should increase at a faster rate,” Mr Dettmer said.
“Some exploitative employers will be unhappy at this decision. They won’t be able to keep an apprentice on their lowest possible rate for as long as possible in order to get cheap labour.
“Encouraging such an environment of dispiriting mediocrity is a totally false economy, bad for productivity and not the high-skill, competitive spirit Australian workplaces must have.”
