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Young workers in Canberra are facing a crisis point, where over half of all workers aged under 25 had wages stolen by their adult employer in the past 12 months.
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Exploitation of young workers in Canberra is a crisis point, with over 50% of young workers experiencing wage theft.
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The unavoidable conclusions of this report are:
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Young workers in Canberra are facing a wage-theft crisis.
Over 50% of young workers have had wages stolen by their employer.
UnionsACT surveyed over 300 young people in Canberra in 2019.
- Exploitation of young workers is far too prevalent.
- Protections in the Fair Work Act and ACT laws are not working.
- There is significant under-reporting by young workers.
- Women and queer-identifying young people experience greater levels of exploitation.
- There are growing numbers of rogue employers who deliberately choose to steal wages from young workers.
Workers as young as fifteen have experienced wage-theft, severe exploitation, harassment and unsafe workplaces.
"My boss would bully me into working more hours and not pay me for them."
"My employer refused to increase my wage after I turned 15, and again after I turned 16 - they actually deducted $0.10c/ hour as a punishment."
"I've done about four different unpaid trial shifts. I was told I would be paid but I never was."
"5 days a week, 2 hours a day at a newsagency, for free! So they could "train" me."
The laws meant to protect young workers have failed.
The Fair Work laws at a Federal level, and the WHS Act and child protection laws in the ACT do not protect young workers. Wage-theft, exploitation and unsafe work practices is too easy, and penalties are too light.
The legal avenues for young workers to access justice involve costly, drawn-out court processes that favour employers.
Over half of all young workers have experienced wage theft in the past 12 months.
CRISIS POINT