Watching out for smallest workers
1 December 2006
Catholic agency Caritas is undertaking a study on child workers in New Zealand, due out in early December. The study follows on from Caritas’ 2003 study of 5000 children, which found far greater numbers of children working at a younger age than had been predicted.
Children as young as eight are in the workforce, according to ACC figures, says survey coordinator Lisa Beech. “Nobody has their eye on this younger group,” she says.
While 16 and 17-year-olds may well profit from the proposed abolition of youth rates - currently under consideration by a Select Committee hearings on the Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill - younger workers have no limit to how low their wages can go. Caritas has concerns around this vulnerable group, which has little protection under employment law.
The new study will interview a smaller number of children in depth, to find out what are the positives and negatives of their work experience, says Beech.
Beech says they are particularly interested in children who deliver leaflets, since this is work that is largely undertaken by the youngest workers. The 2003 survey showed that leaflet deliverers can earn as little as $2 an hour once time taken for folding the leaflets and for travel is taken into account. They have to provide their own bike, helmet and rain gear. They are classed as contractors and as such they are not covered by any minimum wage agreement. Yet they do the same work as adult postal workers who are protected by a completely different set of employment laws, Beech says.
Around forty percent of schoolchildren aged 10-17 work to earn money, according to the 2003 survey. (43 percent overall reported working, but when tasks identified as “home chores” were removed, the figure dropped to 39 percent). Most children under sixteen did not have a written contract and one in four reported earning less than $5 an hour.
Age of younger workers a surprise
Recent Select Committee hearings on the Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill appeared to regard the abolition of youth rates as relatively non-contentious. Members of the committee expressed more surprise at the situation revealed about younger workers, especially as outlined by Caritas in its 2003 report.
The Caritas 2003 survey showed there was widespread ignorance about the restrictions on the employment of young children, according to Beech.
Select Committee member Dr Wayne Mapp said he was surprised by the evidence in one submission on workers under 16. “We seem to have no rules around them at all,” Mapp said.
Dr Mapp said he was interested to hear more about the situation concerning under-16-year-old workers, and asked EEO Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor, also present at the Select Committee hearings, what recommendations she would make.
Dr McGregor said that ratifying the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 138 on child labour would be a good starting point. “It’s an interesting convention, in that it allows each country’s culture to be factored in, and it balances a child’s right to education and health and safety.”
Current Situation:
New Zealand has no minimum age of employment. There is no minimum pay rate for children under the age of 16.
There are restrictions on children’s employment, which is:
- to occur outside school hours up to the school leaving age of 16
- to be light work for those under 15 (by restricting use of machinery and work in certain industries)
- not to occur between 10pm and 6am