Campaign for a living minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds

 

Download the petition and pass is round friends, family, school, college and work to get as many signatures as possible to help build the campaign. Send the filled in petitions to ISR .

 

Article, 25.04.04

In the past 20 months, nine apprentices, all aged under 23, have died on vocational courses backed by the government.

The number of deaths, which have been confirmed by the Health and Safety Executive, all point to a just some of the horrific, unsafe working conditions many young people are being forced into. Many training schemes don’t provide proper training, don’t offer a job at the end of the course and the young people on the courses are used as cheap labour. It are these conditions which result in a waste of young people’s lives. International Socialist Resistance (ISR) calls on the trade unions to launch mass campaigns of recruiting young people into the trade unions alongside mass campaigns for a living wage, proper training and to force the implementation of decent health and safety in the workplace.

 

Article from 5.01.04 

This year could see a minimum wage introduced for 16 and 17 year olds. Due to pressure from the trade union movement and the general anger which exists among many workers on this issue,  the Department of Trade and Industry has reported to the low Pay Commission that a minimum wage should be set at a ‘cautious’ level which might be needed to protect the youngest workers from ‘exploitatively low wages.’ The commission is due to report by February so that any scheme can be introduced in October.

 

Two-thirds of the 615,000 16 and 17 year olds in work are in the wholesale and retail sectors, the motor-trade, hotels and restaurants. Many of these industries pay some of the lowest wages and have some of the worst working conditions. One in 10 are earning less than £3.10 an hour. About 40,000 were paid less than £2.90 and hour. A research published last month by the shopworker’s union USDAW suggested that some teenagers were paid as little as £1.25 an hour!

 

This is a disgrace; bills such as food, clothes, rent etc are no cheaper if you are young. Regardless of whether young people are in education or not – all should have the right to a living wage. The current minimum wage has been used by bosses to legitimise low pay and super exploitation particularly among 16 and 17 year olds who are exempt from any minimum wage and 18-21 year olds who have been given a lower wage to workers over 22.

 

New Labour, the Tories and Liberals are all under pressure to introduce a minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds. But they are also under pressure from their big business friends who don’t want this introduced. So if left to the main political parties, a minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds has no chance of the level of this minimum wage being enough to live on. One report suggested it may be as low as £3 an hour, which is extremly low, and many young people already earning this or less are struggling to survive!

 

International Socialist Resistance (ISR) is campaigning for a living minimum wage for all and for an end to all exemptions. We would welcome a minimum wage being introduced for 16 and 17, but it doesn’t go far enough. What is needed is a mass campaign to end to all the exemptions which exist with the current minimum wage levels and that all workers, regardless of age should receive a living minimum wage. We will be helping to continue to campaign for this to happen over the coming months among young workers and the trade union movement.

 

If you would like more information on helping to build this campaign please contact ISR.

 

020 8558 7947 / PO BOX 858 London, E11 1YG

 anticapitalism@hotmail.co.uk
 



To receive regular updates from ISR, just enter your email address in the box below and hit return..

Subscribe
Unsubscribe
 

Low pay – No way

A living wage for all young people now!

For an end to exemptions and lower pay rates for young people.

 

The rich get richer while the poor get poorer

Did you know that the chief executive of Tesco receives £916,000 a year basic salary. If he works a 40 hour week this means he gets a huge £440.38 an hour! On top of this obscene pay he received ‘additional benefits’ during 2002 bringing his total pay package to £2.8million.

Yet a 16 year old Tesco worker can get paid as little as £3.77 an hour. This is less than 1% of what the Tesco Chief Executive earns.

 

While the bosses and managers keep trying to convince us that they can’t put up our pay or improve our conditions, they always find the money to pay themselves fat cat wages! So we do all the work that produces huge profits for our employers and all we get in return is poverty wages.

 

It is because of low pay, job losses and bad working conditions as well as privatisation and other cuts in public services that are leading more and more workers across the country to take strike action to fight back. ISR members in work places are campaigning for more young workers in every job to get organised and fight back too.

 

Low pay – No way!

As young people we are often forced to work in low paid shop, bar, catering or factory work. Many of these jobs are casual or part-time work in unsafe working conditions. The minimum wage was introduced by the government under the huge pressure of workers fed up of poverty wages. Yet the levels set are still too low and are not enough to live on. There is a lower rate for 18-21 year olds and until October 1st 2004, there is no legal minimum wage set for workers under the age of 18 so employers can pay as little as they like.

 

This is disgraceful. Food, bills and other living costs are not any cheaper if you are young.

 

Because of huge anger on this issue, the government have been forced to introduce a minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds from October 1st 2004. This is a step forward

but will only be £3 an hour. We say all young workers at all ages should get a living minimum wage. Trade Unions should campaign on this issue with young workers across the country.

 

Fight for your rights

Not only are we told we have to accept low pay, we are also regularly denied our rights at work. Below are just some of the rights you have which are from the TUC (Trade Union Congress) ‘Respect at work’ campaign. Go to www.tuc.org.uk/rights for more details on these rights and others. Please make sure to always seek detailed advice before taking any action against your employer. If you are unsure of how to go about this you can also contact ISR for help and advice.

 

Trade Unions:

Trade Unions were set up over 100 years ago by workers who were fighting for the right to be organised and for better conditions in workplaces. Unionised workplaces are safer. Being organised together in a union helps workers to fight against low pay, job cuts, unsafe working conditions etc. It is important that as many workers as possible are part of a trade union so that together we can protect each other against these attacks.

 

  • Everyone has the right to join a trade union, even if a trade union is not recognised in your workplace. You do not have to tell your employer that you or any other worker is thinking of joining or has joined a union.

  • You have the right not to be discriminated against for being a member of a trade union, or for reasons of sex, race or any disability.

  • There are a number of different unions for people to join, depending on what job you do. For example, many public sector workers are organised in the public sector union UNISON.

 

The national minimum wage:

From October 1st 2004

all 16 and 17 year olds will be entitled to £3 an hour.

If you are aged 18-21 (development rate!) then the minimum wage i£4.10 f.

If you are 22 or over, then you are entitled to a minimum wage of £4.85.

 

NB: 16 and 17 year olds apprentices will be exempt from the new young workers rate.

NB: The development rate can also apply to workers aged 22 and above during their first 6 months in a new job with a new employer and who are receiving accredited training.

 

Take a break:

  • Everyone is entitled to a 20 minute break, away from where you normally work, if your working day is more than six hours.

  • There are other rights you have for how long you should work every week, paid holidays etc. Please get advice if you are insure of what your rights are.

 

Health and Safety:

  • You have the right to work in a place which is safe and you have the right to refuse to do something dangerous if you feel you are in ‘imminent and serious danger’.

 

Agency work:

  • Your agency must pay your wages on the agreed day even if the hiring company has not paid the agency.

 

Many employers try to get away with not giving workers their rights. It is important to ensure that every workplace fights for the rights that do exist to be implemented to help start to improve health and safety, breaks, pay etc. But there are also many other rights we do not have that ISR thinks we should fight for, such as better pay, good quality child care, have more of a say in the shifts we work and how the workplace is run.

 

What ISR fights for

International Socialist Resistance (ISR) is an international anti-capitalist organisation run by and for young people. ISR is campaigning in Britain and internationally against employers that are exploiting young workers in sweatshops, paying poverty wages and providing unsafe working conditions.

 

We demand:

  • The immediate introduction of the current trade unions minimum wage demands as a step towards £8.00 an hour (£320 a week).

  • An end to exemptions and lower rates of pay for young people.

  • The right to a job, training and free quality education.

  • No to employment agencies that cream off huge percentages of workers’ wages.

  • Scrap the New Deal for young people, job seekers allowance and welfare to work. For full benefits without compulsion.

  • For the right to free quality childcare for all.

  • A fighting and democratic trade union movement which represents all workers, including agency and casual workers.

 

 

If you would like to get involved in our campaign, find out more etc, please get in touch.

 

For a socialist alternative

Britain is the fourth richest country in the world. There is easily enough money for workers to be paid a living wage. The gap between the rich and poor has never been greater. This is because we live under capitalism which always puts private profit before the needs of people. This system is run for greed, power and wealth by and for the few while the majority of people are forced to live in poverty.

If this system can’t afford to pay us a living wages, provide us with a decent education, affordable homes or give young people a decent future we can’t afford this system. We are fighting for a socialist society based on need and not profit which can abolish poverty pay and meet the needs of everyone.

Join ISR today!