Lowering The Age Of Adult Wages

Submission to the Fair workers act of Australia in order to review the ages of the adult wage

Word Count approximately 1300 words

Tutor – Wendy Lawler
Student - Lachlan Hayman

Contents

Introduction to Fair Work Commission …3
Lowering the age of the Adult Wage …3
Key Developments …3
Discrimination …4
Union Involvement …4
Benefits of a Fair Work Place …5
Disadvantages of Higher Pay …5
Conclusion …5
References …6

Introduction to the Fair Workers Commission

Australia's national workplace relations tribunal was first established as the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, with the passage of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904. The Fair Workers Commission (FWC) is a governed based organisation, which is responsible for maintaining a “safety net of minimum wages and employment conditions, as well as a range of other workplace functions and regulation” (Fair Work Commission, 2014, p. 1). The FWC takes pride in its efforts to reflect and support on many changes within the working environment of Australians, since the first federal industrial tribunal was established in 1904. In the near future the FWC is aiming to improve on its fairness and access to justice, accountability and supporting workplace productivity.

Lowering the age of the Adult Wage
This submission addresses the concerns of “Adults workers” not being awarded the adult income rate. Patrons who are over the legal age of 18 are classified as adults by law. Thus meaning these workers should be able to receive the same rates, and incentives that their adult colleagues do. In this current era, 18 year olds are receiving 70% of the adult wage, whilst 19 year olds are receiving an additional 10% of that total. Experts in this field have stated that this incident has carried over for to long now and something must be done. “The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Associations (SDA) national secretary Joe de Bruyn states that the time has come for the retail sector to grow up and start paying all workers a fair wage (Workplace Info, 2013, para. 5). However, with paying employees of a younger age the same wage, may include more cons than pros in a situation like this. There is a substantial amount of workers between the ages of 18 to 20, who would indeed have more expenses to those of the age that receive the full adult wage. By lowering the adult wage to the ages of 18 plus, would ensure that all “legal” adults are not only treated fairly, but also have the income to pay their way through life.

Key Developments
Ever since the “1st July 2014 the FWC has ruled 20 year olds with more than six months service will be entitled to 100% of the adult rate” (FWC Rules, 2014). The Fair Work Commission has “revealed it agrees with what we’ve been saying for a long time that paying younger workers less than the full adult rate is an out-dated and discriminatory act that needs to be rectified”(FWC Rules, 2014, para. 6). However experts in this field state that in doing this “it is a step closer to paying 18 and over full pay” (Adult Wages, 2013, para. 2). However the employers are worried of this ongoing trial as lowering the adult rate of pay will be a further cost to business and will result in job losses. This is a something serious if the age was to be lowered, as an excessive amount of young employees may loose their job and find it difficult to replace if they are so expensive to hire.

Discrimination
By technically not paying a legal adult full “mandatory wages” this may be seen as an act of discrimination towards the young adult generation, by interpreting that people of this age are incompetent. Joe Bruyn, the ASC National Secretary states, “By the time a worker reaches 20, they’ve often had several years experience in the industry. If you’re giving 100 per cent at work, you deserve to be paid 100 per cent too”. (Adult Wages, 2013, para. 4). Although by law