University of Wollongong students have been the focus of a union campaign aimed at preventing young workers from being ripped off.
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Unions NSW and the South Coast Labour Council (SCLC) have used this week’s UOW orientation festivities as a platform to tell students about wage theft in casual jobs and to ensure young employees understand their entitlements.
The campaign has been adopted on the back of a two-month Fairfax Media investigation into the underpayment of workers aged 18 to 24 in cafes, restaurants and shops across the Illawarra.
Thirteen workers – some paid as little as $10 an hour and others who worked for nothing – shared their story as part of the probe in 2016.
Following the investigation, the Mercury revealed universities, TAFE campuses and schools would be part of a “mass awareness exercise” about workplace rights.
SCLC secretary Arthur Rorris said unions had been working with school, TAFE and university students, as well as high school P&Cs.
Mr Rorris said Wednesday’s UOW visit was “just another step in our union movements’ effort to stop the rampant wage theft and unsafe work practices that many students experience in casual jobs while they study”.
A key step in fixing the issue was ensuring students knew minimum wages existed, he said.
Isabelle Liddy, from the Wollongong Undergraduate Students’ Association (WUSA), said: “Students need to get in the know.”
“I think all of us could speak from personal experience, or name a friend who has received unfair and unlawful conditions in their casual job,” she said.