Bill Means a Better Deal for Underpaid Trainees
The passing of the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill will see a better deal for those trainees who are badly underpaid, the
Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.
The new law ensures trainees are paid at least $6.80 an hour, the same as the minimum youth rate.
Carol Beaumont says the CTU supports the Bill as part of a number of changes that the Government has made on minimum
wages since 1999.
“This includes regular increases in the minimum wage following the three-year freeze by the National Government, the
adult rate applying from age 18 rather than 20, and the lifting of the youth rate to 80 percent of the adult rate.”
However, Carol Beaumont says the CTU would like to see the youth rate phased out.
“Young people think youth rates are unfair, especially when they are doing the same job, side-by-side, with older
workers,” she said.
“However, we recognise that this Bill is a step in the right direction as trainees previously had no minimum wage at
all.”
Carol Beaumont says it’s important for all workers to be paid a decent wage, and this is why the CTU is working hard to
re-unionise workers and promote collective bargaining.