Howard Government workplace watchdog approves $3 an hour wage for young worker.

The Howard Government's workplace watchdog has approved it was legal for a young woman to be paid less than $3 an hour for working eleven hour days for a Cairns-based diving and tour company.

The case of 21 year old dive worker Brooke O'Mara that is reported in a national newspaper today has exposed another fundamental flaw in the Howard Government's WorkChoices IR laws say unions.

Unions estimate that the young worker who was paid just $30 a day, often for ten or eleven hours work, is still owed backpay of up to $5,600.

However the Workplace Ombudsman - formerly the Office of Workplace Services -- has rejected Brooke's bid for backpay from when she started on 1 October last year, ruling that unqualified junior dive workers are not entitled to receive the minimum wage:

... your entitlement to the FMW [Federal Minimum Wage] was only assessed from your 21st birthday in December 2006 to termination [10 January 2007]. Prior to that date, no arrears of wages could be claimed because of the non-application of the FMW to juniors. We couldn't claim wages for you under the Recreational Dive Industry Award as advice from my Brisbane office is that Award will only apply to Dive Masters and Dive Instructors who hold appropriate certification. (July 2007, Office of Workplace Services)

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"This is another major blow to the credibility of the Howard Government and its new workplace watchdog.

"It shows that the IR laws cannot be fixed by advertising or by a new bureaucracy.

"The laws are fundamentally flawed and leave young and vulnerable workers exposed to exploitation.

"It shows that the Government's new advertisements are a sham. The ads say that employers can't rip off young people, when Brooke's case clearly shows that they can.

"The fact is that Brooke's situation is not unique and the Howard Government has so far failed to prevent other young workers being abused in this way.

"Despite an adverse finding of underpayment against the company, Down Under Dive is still advertising its unregistered so-called "Traineeships" for $30 a day on the company website," said Ms Burrow.

Media Contact: Shannon Walker ph 0414 694 476