Unhappy deals for workers

YOUNG fast food workers are earning $5 an hour less than their peers under a deal struck by a union and McDonald’s.

A federal government analysis of how McDonald’s is paying its young workers has exposed that 16, 17 and 18-yearolds on the enterprise agreement negotiated by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees union are paid $5 an hour less on weekends than their peers on the award rate – equivalent to $36 less a week or $1728 a year.

The union then deducts between $7.90 and $19.60 a fortnight in membership fees from the young workers’ salary.

Internal data from the SDA reveals 13 per cent of its membership are under 18 years old.

This means the union would collect somewhere between $5.7 million and up to $14 million a year from teenage members, depending on the hours they worked.

McDonald’s workers have told of the “pressure” they feel to sign up to the union agreement, with a union representative present on induction day.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the SDA’s hypocrisy was breathtaking.

“The SDA shamelessly trades away penalty rates for Sunday junior workers, yet collects millions of dollars a year in union dues from these same workers,” she said.

McDonald’s corporate relations head, Chris Grant, said their enterprise agreement, approved by the Fair Work Commission and voted on by employees, “delivers a substantially higher rate of pay across the week over penalty rates.”

But they are not substantially higher. McDonald’s workers aged 16 earn $10.54 an hour on weekdays, compared to the award equivalent of $9.72.