Labor leaves Australian youth adrift again
5th May, 2010
Australian school students hoping for casual shift work will have to look extra hard following new evidence showing retailers will not hire them because of Labor’s new industrial relations laws.“In Labor’s rush to introduce a three hour minimum shift, more than half of Australia’s retailers say they’ll give up offering short shifts to students,” the Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, said today.
“Schools students and young people have readily used these shifts to get valuable work experience and savings. But Labor’s poorly thought through approach means everyone loses.”
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) says it will present new research to a Fair Work Australia hearing tomorrow. This research reveals more than half the nation’s retailers will stop offering school students work under the new Award's minimum three hour shift requirement. Paying three hours wages when less is required is just not feasible for business, especially in the regions.
“Retailers want to offer shifts of two or two and half hours after 3pm to students, and the students want this casual work that doesn’t impact on school or home work. But the Rudd Government and the unions aren’t listening.
“What is strangest is this sort of employment enables unions to access a market for future members. But they don’t seem to be interested and union membership will continue to decline.
According to the ARA, more than 55 percent of retailers employ students for short shifts after school ends at typically 3pm until the close of business which is typically between 5 and 5.30pm. Of those, 38 percent said they would stop employing students to work after school and 17 percent said they would stop employing students altogether as a result of the national three hour minimum shift.
“This potential disaster follows the Rudd Government’s cruel attack on the Youth Allowance, which threatened to prevent students from being able to undertake a gap year before university or further study. The Coalition was able to rectify the worst of Labor’s plans but for many students, the situation is still far from satisfactory,” Mr Truss said.
