Teachers aim to support young people who combine school and work

By Sally Edsall

Teachers at Annual Conference developed an action plan to help young workers through the challenges of combining school with work.

Through the Federation, teachers will work to help support students and their parents/caregivers with information and resources to help them balance school and work and connect teachers' concern for their students school performance with the broader issues of workplace fairness.

Potentially, students themselves will become the most credible sources of information about work for each other.

Annual conference adopted a strategy involving building a supportive website and connecting the interest young people have in music and film with modern technology to help them navigate the world of work combined with school. It is intended to also make this a useful tool for parents and employers. Matters such as occupational health and safety will be integral to that.

Care will be taken to attempt to work with the broader union movement to promote greater understanding and appreciation of the role and importance of unions.

It is also intended to hold a Summit on Young People later in 2007. Discussions will also be sought with the NSW Minister for Education and Industrial Relations about the project.

Paid work is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of young people. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, about 53 per cent of young people at school have jobs. Teachers know through their daily contact with students the significant challenge for students in balancing competing demands in their lives.

The nature of work in Australia has changed radically in the past 25 years. Once students were more or less confined to Saturday morning and Thursday evening work but the economy has shifted to a 24 hour, seven day a week service economy, with enormous growth particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors. Nearly half (46 per cent) of working students are employed in these sectors.

Many younger workers are under pressure to work more hours, and older students often experience fewer shifts available to them. This is because younger students are cheaper to employee now that shift penalties, meal breaks and the like have been swept away under WorkChoices.

On the other hand, young workers are by and large very enthusiastic about work, and report many advantages to working part-time. This can blind some to the possibility of exploitation, and cause others to overlook what they can see as blatantly unfair practices. They report having scant knowledge of the rules governing the workplace and little formal introduction to the workplaces. Overlaid with WorkChoices, this contributes to confusion of young workers.

Negotiation between employers and employees is rarely an option for young workers; there is always a younger batch of students coming through to replace those unhappy with conditions. Contracts are presented on a "take-it-or-leave-it" basis. Whilst some students may feel they are underpaid or being taken advantage of, they are not in a position to query this, and for many it is an unthinkable proposition.

Government advertising campaigns have been launched attempting to dispel fears. These have resulted in more confusion amidst reports of people featured in the ads themselves exploiting young workers. These reports are now being investigated by the Workplace Ombudsman.

While awareness and understanding of unions is not high, students overall are well-disposed towards them and see unions as a positive influence in the workplace. Fewer than one-in-five (17 per cent) NSW year 10, 11 or 12 students are members of a union. Students in non-metropolitan areas are more likely (24 per cent versus 13 per cent) to be so.

There is a very valuable role for teachers and their union to play.

Once having entered the workforce, students have an appetite for trusted sources of information about pay rates and conditions. Parents/caregivers are the most likely source, but teachers are seen to be unbiased and professional in the advice that they offer. Students report that they trust and value the information from and support of teachers.

Comment on the launch of "You're Gold..."

The Sydney Morning Herald published a lengthy article "A balancing act" in their supplement, Essential, on July19 which took up the issues raised and referred to the report.

In a media release, federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey slammed the report as "complete rubbish". He said: "It is not founded on any science, it's not founded on any research." In using the now familiar rhetoric of the Howard Government he added: "It's another stunt from the union bosses..."

Crikey.com correspondent Mark Bahnisch demolished Hockey's argument. Bahnisch, a lecturer in the Politics, Economy and Society Program within the School of Arts at Griffith University said: "Shrek should listen to the kids on WorkChoices." (Shrek is a nickname some in the media have pinned to Hockey after he was called that by Paul Keating)

Bahnisch took a look at the methodology by reading the report online at Federation's website www.nswtf.org.au/media/latest_2007/files/20070703_gold.pdf and said: "...it appears to be a legitimate research design and to have been conducted according to a recognised methodology."

He went on to say, "It doesn't seem to me to be rocket science that longer hours at work chasing the same income from diminished hourly rates of pay are going to lead to more tired kids.

"And since young workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, and retail and hospitality are among the leading sectors where AWAs are becoming more common, and where there's evidence of the removal of conditions and duress of various kinds, it doesn't seem to me to be illegitimate to inquire into young workers' knowledge and experience of employment regulation, rights and conditions."

"There are serious issues here, and the Federation hoped to engender a serious debate. The findings if the report don't deserve to be quashed by an ogre of a ministerial press release."

Sally Edsall is a Research Officer.

Young people -- school and work Annual Conference Decision

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