Youth trainees' 'slave labour' blocked

By Melanie Sjoberg ADELAIDE — The Department for Education and Children's Services (DECS) has been prevented from using young people as cheap labour by the combined action of the Public Service Association (PSA) and the South Australian Institute of Teachers (SAIT) Youth traineeships are currently being offered in the public sector as a means for the state Liberal government to claim credit for creating jobs for young people. Yet, at the same time the government is cutting thousands of public service jobs. School services officers (SSO) ran a strong campaign last year in opposition to the slashing of 250 full-time positions. The department invited school principals to take up to 150 trainees during the first part of this year. This was a blatant attempt to plug the gaps left after reducing the permanent SSO positions. The PSA and SAIT have rejected the proposal. The unions said that DECS cannot solve its problems by putting young people into stopgap positions with no real opportunities at the end. 'Young people require genuine training. Young people require real opportunities to learn and obtain a job. There are no positions available. This is slave labour", said Jan McMahon, general secretary of the PSA.

From GLW issue 219