Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to speak about young people and work—and it is good to see that Senator Abetz is in here to listen—in particular the effect of the government’s workplace laws on young people, the so-called Work Choices legislation. That in fact offers no choices when it comes to ‘take it or leave it’ AWAs and offers no protection to workers who are sacked unfairly. It is timely to speak about young people and work because it is at this time of the year that many young people get their first jobs as Christmas casuals. It is an exciting time for many of them as they make their first foray into the world of work. We can only hope that the experience for them is a good one, but we know that for some it will not always be what they expected or hoped for.

Unfortunately, too many of Australia’s young people are unemployed or underemployed. We know that nearly 40 per cent of unemployed Australians are under the age of 25. While young Australians aged 15 to 24 years comprise 19 per cent of the total labour force, they account for 38.7 per cent of unemployment. It is true that unemployment has declined since the early 1990s, but Australian youth, particularly those between the ages of 15 and 19 years—teenagers—have continued to experience significantly higher rates of unemployment than older Australians. In fact the teenage unemployment rate is almost four times that of people aged over 25 years. We also know that more than half of the 2.8 million young Australians who were looking for employment in 2005 were not participating in full-time secondary or tertiary education. This is a very worrying statistic. It is indicative of the government’s failure to address the skills crisis and their neglect of tertiary education and education retention rates. However, that is a story for another night.

The fact that there is such a high level of unemployment in the youth sector makes young workers particularly vulnerable to the options available to unscrupulous employers under the government’s unfair work laws. While new jobs may have been created, as the government likes to claim, the fact is that full-time employment for young people has dropped, with more than 309,000 fewer young people in full-time jobs over the last two decades. Part-time work is increasingly the norm for people under 25 years, with 46 per cent employed part time in 2005 compared with 20 per cent in 1986.

A report prepared by Mission Australia—and kindly provided to all members of parliament—notes that, while some commentators claim that the preponderance of part-time and casual work gives young people a ‘foot in the door’ of employment, for the young people concerned the lack of job security and low pay rates actually reduce the motivation to work and make young people feel less valued. Nothing, however, makes young people feel less valued than being sacked for no reason. And, as we know, employers with fewer than 100 employees can sack workers for no reason under the current government legislation.

As Labor has said time and time again in this chamber, most employers are good employers and most act responsibly and fairly towards their employees. Most employers are as keen as the rest of us to ensure that young people’s work experience is a good one and that young people enjoy their time in the workforce and learn new skills. But not all employers are so responsible, and that is why we need strong workplace laws to protect those who need protection.

In South Australia the Young Workers Legal Service is an organisation that attempts to help young workers who have encountered problems at work. I have mentioned the service previously in this place, and I will keep on giving credit to that service. It was set up by the union movement and is funded by the union movement and the South Australian state government to provide assistance to young workers who are not union members. Most of the work of the service is done by volunteers: young law students who give up their time to assist other young people.

The government endlessly attempts to deflect criticism of its industrial laws by citing job creation statistics and statistics about wage increases which do not tell the whole story. In the case of wage rates, the statistics are distorted by whopping salary increases for high-level managerial and public service jobs and jobs in the booming resources sector. In the case of job creation, as I said before, most of the jobs being created are low-paid casual and part-time jobs. Fortunately, the public does not buy the statistics and the government continues to smart and squirm in the face of the union movement’s relentless campaign. It is not just the union movement campaigning either: churches and community groups are also campaigning against the workplace laws.

The Young Workers Legal Service does not deal in the smoke and mirrors of the government’s statistics. It deals with the hard facts of life in the workplace for some young people. I would like to share with the Senate some real-life examples of what happens to young people under the government’s laws. These are examples provided by the annual report of the Young Workers Legal Service. Debbie is a 16-year-old high school student. For 18 months she had been working as a casual at a franchise juice bar. She had only worked at one location and with one employer. One day she approached her manager for time off the following Saturday so she could attend a course as part of her schooling. It was the first time she had asked for time off. In Debbie’s words, her manager just ‘blew up’ and said that she should just go home and not come back. She was not allowed to finish her shift. That was the last day that she worked. Debbie had never had any prior warnings and believed that she was a hardworking and dedicated employee. However, as the company that owns the business has fewer than 100 employees, Debbie was prevented by the federal laws from challenging her termination of employment.

Another example is David, who was a third-year apprentice baker completing his training at a franchise bakery. He was asked by his boss whether he would like to have his contract of training signed off early so he could be qualified. David thought about this for a few weeks. When his employer asked him again, David agreed and signed the forms that ended his contract of training that would have enabled him to gain his full qualification. He had worked for his employer for two years, so he believed that he would continue to work, especially as his employer did not say anything to the contrary. As soon as he signed the forms, his employer told him that he was selling the business and that he no longer had a job. David did not have any recourse to unfair dismissal as the employer, a constitutional corporation, had fewer than 100 employees. Furthermore, as the process for ending the contract of training and the training relationship was done lawfully and followed all appropriate processes, this could not be challenged either. This was an unfortunate reality under the federal laws as the termination, while unfair, was in effect lawful.

There are many other examples in the annual report, and I recommend it as essential reading for any senator who is remotely concerned with the plight of our young people at work. The Young Workers Legal Service also point out that the workload they have is slowly changing and, as there is an explosion in the use of Australian workplace agreements amongst young people, particularly teenagers, they are receiving more requests from young workers for assistance in negotiating or overturning AWAs that are effectively dudding young people of their rights and entitlements.

Thank goodness for organisations like the Young Workers Legal Service that has been set up by the union movement and thank goodness for the goodwill of its volunteers, who give up their time every week to assist young people who are being treated badly at work. When the government is spruiking its dubious figures in an attempt to cover up the truth about its appalling workplace laws, a tiny volunteer based organisation in South Australia is out there helping the victims of this government’s extreme legislation.