Employers Fight To Keep Youth Wage
The Age
Wednesday January 10, 2007
EMPLOYERS have vowed to fight any move to abolish youth wages, warning that forcing them to pay adult rates would destroy job opportunities for young people.
But unions and the youth sector insist that axing the "entrenched discrimination" of lower pay for workers under 21 is long overdue and would not cost jobs.A fresh battle has begun on the issue as the new Fair Pay Commission prepares to launch the first major review of the junior wage system in eight years.Commission chairman Ian Harper has pledged to consult younger workers and their bosses, setting up a junior wage forum to hear all views.He will also commission research on the impact of youth wages and any likely reforms, before the next minimum wage ruling due by mid-year."To cut a long story short, there are those who think that junior wages are essential in order to ensure that young people get work; and there are those who think that junior wages - that is, paying people under the age of 21 less than a full adult - is an insult," he told ABC radio in a recent interview.The Keating government legislated in 1993 to abolish youth wages, to take effect from 2000. When the Howard Government embarked on its first wave of industrial changes, the Democrats demanded that they refer the issue to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.When the commission recommended entrenching youth wages in 1999, Labor voted with government MPs in favour of the bill, sparking outrage from unions and threats to disaffiliate from the party. Employers are now preparing to fight any changes, which could affect up to half a million young workers.Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Hendy said junior rates were a proxy for lower levels of experience, maturity and productivity and should be extended - rather than scrapped - into more industries."The issue about whether there should be junior wage rates has been completely settled," he said. "What critics are arguing for is less jobs for young people."National Retailers Association employee relations director Suzanne White said youth wages were vital to youth employment. She also warned against any move to standardise youth wage rates across all industries. "We think there would be a devastating impact on youth employment, and the cost impact would be outrageous." But ACTU president Sharan Burrow was adamant that junior wage rates should be abolished in favour of equal pay for equal competency."We ought to respect anti-discrimination laws for young people in the workforce ..." she said. Youth Affairs Council of Victoria executive director Georgie Ferrari branded claims that axing junior wages would lead to job losses as a "furphy"."Why should there be age-based discrimination over wages when there are laws against it for everything else - it doesn't seem fair given that there are pay scales that recognise levels of experience anyway," she said.
© 2007 The Age