You try living on youth rates or the minimum wage

The upris­ing amongst New Zea­l­and youth against low pay and insec­ure jobs is being backed by the Mari­time Uni­on.

Mari­time Uni­on Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says all work­ers should sup­port young people who are tak­ing part in cam­paign activ­it­ies, includ­ing indus­tri­al action at fast food out­lets and the recent street ral­lies and con­certs.

“What we are see­ing is the inev­it­able reac­tion from work­ing class young people who have become a low-wage gen­er­a­tion.”

He says youth rates need to be abol­ished, and there also needed to be ongo­ing increases in the min­im­um wage.

Youth rates are the youth min­im­um wage paid to young people who are 16 and 17. Cur­rently the youth min­im­um wage is $7.60 per hour, and will go up on 27 March 2006 to $8.20 per hour.

The adult min­im­um wage (which is for people aged over 18), is $9.50 per hour, going up to $10.25 on 27 March 2006.

Mr Han­son says young people are being advised to go into debt for ter­tiary edu­ca­tion, pay for hous­ing and accom­mod­a­tion costs that are going through the roof, save for their retire­ment, and are con­stantly pres­sured by advert­ising to buy con­sumer goods.

“Try doing that on the min­im­um wage, let alone youth rates.”

Mr Han­son says the recent res­ist­ance in France to attacks on low-paid young work­ers was an indic­a­tion that this was an inter­na­tion­al issue.

“We are wit­ness­ing the long over­due polit­ic­al and social awaken­ing of a new gen­er­a­tion.”

He says the attacks on vul­ner­able work­ers will con­tin­ue, with the recent intro­duc­tion to Par­lia­ment of a bill for “tri­al employ­ment peri­ods” in New Zea­l­and.

“The fact is that any law like this would be used by some employ­ers to hold the whip hand over their employ­ees, espe­cially those who are young, vul­ner­able and unsure of their rights.”