ACTU survey finds young workers are struggling and want help

September 1, 2016
Issue 
More than 70% of young workers surveyed said they would like some external support for problems in their job.

New research into youth employment by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), released on August 30, has found that young people are struggling to find work and urgently need support.

The survey, conducted by QDOS Research, polled 500 young Australians aged between 18 and 24 in the first half of the year.

Half the participants said they were being treated badly by their bosses and just over half said they were receiving no workplace training and thought their pay was incorrect.

More than 50% were very concerned about their workplace conditions, the lack of regular work, the lack of a career path and limited superannuation. More than 70% said they would like some external support.

Commenting on the report, ACTU president Ged Kearney called on the federal government to “invest in young people through education and training”.

“Employers also need to be held responsible for paying young people the right wages, their penalty rates, super and providing adequate on the job training,” she said.

This is true. However, it is disappointing that Kearney did not say anything about the role that the ACTU, or the union movement, can play in improving the conditions of young workers.

The ACTU should be leading the charge to make unions relevant to young people, as its own policy suggests it is. It should be supporting young workers who are struggling with the concerns that the report identifies as having a serious impact on young people.

Data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last year reveals that union membership slumped by more than 140,000 people, from 1.74 million to 1.6 million, over the 12 months to August 2014.

ABS figures released at the same time also show that the education and training sector has the highest rate of unionised members at 34%, while the retail sector has the lowest rate at 10%.

At the time this data was released, former assistant secretary of the ACTU Tim Lyons said it was “almost impossible to overstate what a crisis this is”.

Yet one year on it seems there has been little in the way of leadership, concrete campaigns or serious effort from the ACTU to make unions relevant to a new generation of workers.

Instead, ACTU secretary Dave Oliver defended the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) after it negotiated an enterprise agreement with Coles that left young workers financially worse off.

The concepts of unionism, collective action and solidarity are still relevant today. In fact, they are very much needed for the current generation of young workers and those about to enter the work force.

Some trades and labour councils, such as the Geelong Trades Hall Council, are undertaking important educational work by reaching out to young workers at local high schools and TAFEs to educate them about their rights at work.
This outreach needs to be replicated on a national scale with all trade unions and the ACTU contributing to ensure that workplace conditions continue to improve.

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