Union to bring youth pay case

Unite Union has told its lawyers to start work on an underpayment of wages case for youth workers after a legal opinion saying such discrimination is illegal.

The action followed Green Party industrial relations spokeswoman Sue Bradford this morning releasing a legal opinion which said the Bill of Rights and the Human Rights Act already prohibited discrimination. Unite Union director Matt McCarten said the union would seek back pay for its youth members working at fast food restaurant McDonald's for the whole period of employment in which they had been paid less than the adult wage.

While the opinion said Ms Bradford's bill was unnecessary there was nothing stopping the repeal of the Minimum Wage Order 2005. The opinion emphasised that it was only drawn up to look at whether the new bill complied with the minimum guarantees of the Bill of Rights Act. Mr McCarten said the union would challenge the validity of regulations relating to the youth wage rates. "We consider the regulations are discriminatory and unlawful and it is outside of the powers of the Minister of Labour to make such regulations."

McDonald's was being targeted first because "unlike Restaurant Brands, McDonald's refuses to seriously engage with the union to negotiate an end to youth rates", Mr McCarten claimed.

"It is only fair that they should be the first fast food company that Unite will target on the basis of this new information."

In a statement, Ms Bradford said she was making a presentation this morning to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee on her bill and would talk about the opinion.

The legal opinion was prepared for the Attorney-General Michael Cullen on her Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill, which would change the law so 16 and 17-year-olds were paid the same as older people. Ms Bradford believed the current law breached the Bill of Rights.

"If this is correct, as I believe it is, it means that employers who are paying youth rates to those aged under 18 may be breaking the law. I am aware that one union may be preparing a case to test this legal opinion," she said.

Ms Bradford hoped that would motivate other parties to support her bill. "While the Ministry's advice is that the current legislation may be illegal, my bill will remove any uncertainty."

- NZPA