{"id":38234,"date":"2026-04-01T10:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=38234"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:39:48","slug":"fwc-scraps-junior-rates-for-18-20-year-olds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/fwc-scraps-junior-rates-for-18-20-year-olds\/","title":{"rendered":"FWC scraps junior rates for 18-20 year olds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-31\/fair-work-comission-junior-pay-rates-retail-fast-food\/106514948\"><u>Fair Work Commission\u2019s decision<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;today to scrap unfair junior rates for young adults aged 18-20 is a big win for our workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Greens have long campaigned for removing the discriminatory practice of imposing junior rates on Australia\u2019s young workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The real wages of workers have gone backwards as inflation has soared, leaving our young workers behind in a cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Greens welcome the FWC\u2019s decision for young adults. However, its exclusion of 16-17 year olds is disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Greens spokesperson for finance, employment and workplace relations Senator Barbara Pocock:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cScrapping unfair junior rates is a big win for young workers. For too long 18-20 year olds have been doing the same work as their 21 year old colleagues but for less pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRising inflation is eroding real wages, pushing young workers further behind in the cost-of-living squeeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLow-paid workers are already facing an uphill battle as wages have failed to keep up with the inflation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Greens believe workers\u2019 pay should reflect their skills, not their age. We need to continue to raise the wages of under-18s who do the same work for less pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not fair that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sda.au\/sa-nt\/news\/junior-rates-case-set-to-begin-this-month\/#:~:text=75%25-,16%20years%20old,50%25,-Under%2016%20years\"><u>a 16 year old fast food worker earns $16.60 per hour less than their 21 year old colleague&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>doing the same job.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJunior pay rates guarantee an endless supply of cheap labour for employers willing to exploit the skills and talents of young people newly entering the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The&nbsp;Fair Work Commission\u2019s decision&nbsp;today to scrap unfair junior rates for young adults aged 18-20 is a big win for our workers. The Greens have long campaigned for removing the discriminatory practice of imposing junior rates on Australia\u2019s young workforce. The real wages of workers have gone backwards as inflation has soared, leaving our young workers &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/fwc-scraps-junior-rates-for-18-20-year-olds\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;FWC scraps junior rates for 18-20 year olds&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38235,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38234\/revisions\/38235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}