A nationwide meeting of union groups has endorsed a campaign to scrap junior wages, which legally allow younger workers to be paid less than their adult co-workers, even if they perform the same duties.
Congress, which is the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ highest decision-making forum, has agreed to a range of measures it says will provide justice for young workers, including campaigning to end wage discrimination, and pushing for superannuation to be paid to all workers under the age of 18.
Currently, employers only need to pay superannuation to workers under the age of 18 if they work more than 30 hours a week.
Junior wages apply in dozens of awards in Australia, including hospitality and retail, which employ large numbers of young people.
Under the current Fast Food Industry Award, a 15-year-old worker is entitled to 40 per cent of the applicable rate for a person aged over 21.
That increases by 10 per cent every year until an employee turns 21, regardless of their experience or responsibilities.
Under the Retail Award, a 15-year-old gets 45 per cent of adult wage, and in the Restaurant Award, anyone under 17 gets paid half the adult wage.
“It’s totally outrageous,” ACTU secretary Sally McManus told triple j Hack.
“We want to see people paid fairly and end the wage discrimination.”
The issue was promoted in Congress by the ACTU’s youth committee.
“These young union members … put up a motion which everyone voted on, saying it’s going to be a priority for the whole union movement to fight for justice for young workers,” Ms McManus said.
“Cost of living is hard for everyone, but especially hard for young people, and the new generational inequality that exists and [junior wages] is just reinforcing it,” she said.
The full suite of measures includes scrapping junior wages altogether, lifting apprentice wages, ending unpaid university placements and extending superannuation to all employees under the age of 18.
High school student Cameron Taylor, 17, works part-time for retail giant Target, but despite having two years of work experience under his belt, he’s still paid less than his older co-workers.
“I moved out of home at 15 and I’ve been having to do this stuff on my own for a while now,” Cameron told Hack.
“A lot of older people don’t understand that some people don’t have those cushy, comfy backgrounds of [being able to rely on] parents. Some young people are really struggling.”
He said being paid less than his co-workers impacted his self-worth and acted as a disincentive for him to work harder.
“What was the point of putting in that much work if I wasn’t going to be appreciated or compensated for it?”
‘Legalised discrimination against young people’
Not all industries and sectors use junior wages, but they are set out in several awards that cover younger workers, including hospitality, retail and fast food.
They can also apply to some apprenticeships and can impact workers even after they turn 21.
“Apprentices who start their apprenticeship before 21 will receive junior apprentice wages,” James Lea from the Young Workers Centre, a community legal aid service in Victoria, told Hack.
“People that started their apprenticeship after 21 will receive higher rates when they start their apprenticeship. So that applies whether you start your apprenticeship the day before you’re 21, or the day after 21. And that junior apprentice wage will stick with you through your apprenticeship if you start the day before you’re 21.
“Junior wages are just another form of legalised discrimination against young people.”
Mr Lea said the current system sees young people in Australia lose $3.5 billion a year in the form of unearned wages.
He said a fairer system would be to implement graded pay that takes into account the level of duties performed on the job, rather than basing it on age.
“If we abolish these discriminatory junior wages, that means that young people are going to be able to earn the same job for the same pay.”
Industry says junior wages are needed
Several of the industry bodies contacted by Hack said they were supportive of the current system, and expressed concern about the impact on small businesses particularly if junior wages were to change.
“We remain supportive of the current structure we have,” Suresh Manickam, the head of the Restaurant and Catering Association, said.
CEO of Master Builders Australia Denita Wawn said the building and construction industry needed to attract more apprentices, but pointed to payments on top of wages that are offered in the sector as important incentives.
The Australian Retailers Association, which also covers fast food and pharmacies, said its association is made up of many small “mum and dad operators” who would not be able to afford any wage increases.
“Junior rates are used to incentivise employment of young people who are less skilled, giving them an entry point for their careers,” ARA CEO Paul Zahra said.
“Without these rates, these young people may otherwise struggle to compete against older, more experienced applicants.”
But 21-year-old university student Josie Gregory-Walker doesn’t buy that argument.
She’s been working part-time in hospitality since she was 15, and she was so good at her job that when she was 18, she was promoted to supervisor.
“Even though I was in a leadership role, and I had quite a lot of responsibility at the restaurant I was working for, I was still being paid junior wages just because I was 18,” Josie told Hack.
“There definitely were a few employees who were over 21 who were getting paid more than me, even though I was supervising them.”
Josie said the argument that junior wages are needed because younger staff members need more training doesn’t align with her experience.
Even though she was training other staff, she was still paid junior wages.
“In my time as a supervisor, I was the one doing the training,” Josie said.
She thinks junior wages are based on the assumption that young people have family members to rely on for financial support.
“When I was a restaurant supervisor, and I was 18, I was living alone, I was paying my own rent, I was paying for my own food, and still being paid less than a 23-year-old co-worker who was living with his parents.”
Some other countries, like New Zealand, Canada and South Korea, have already moved to abolish or limit the use of junior wages.