Young Workers Centre's
June Newsletter 2025
Welcome back! This edition, we say a sad farewell to our amazing Principal Solicitor, Kelly Thomas 😔
Since last time, we've been travelling all around to Horsham, Mildura, Swan Hill, Bendigo, and Geelong to make sure ALL young workers and apprentices know their rights!
Also HELLO 3.5% MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE July 1st!
Staff changes! $3 million! Support Padre Workers! Walk for Truth Junior Wages Planning Sesh Casual Worker Night Minimum wage increase! Payday Super Demand a full ceasefire! Book a Visit
Goodbye Kelly, Hello Paloma!
We are heartbroken to announce that our principal solicitor Kelly Thomas is finishing up on the 13th of June to start an exciting new role as National Industrial Manager at the Australian Services Union. Kelly has been our ridiculously hardworking Principal Solicitor for the past 2 years, winning so many cases for young workers and helping as many people as she possibly could and being such a staunch unionist inspiring us all!
Under Kelly, we set a new personal best of money won back for workers, and we have had national media coverage over our case to protect two young workers and their right to political expression at work!
Taking her place, we are excited to welcome Paloma Cole! Paloma joins us from Fitzroy Legal Services, where she was Acting Manager and Senior Community Lawyer. She is passionate about using the law as a vehicle for justice and progress through individual client representation and wider law reform and will bring this passion and expertise to the Young Workers Centre!
$3 million milestone!
We have hit a massive milestone; we have now won over 3 million dollars back for young workers since we were founded!
And last year was our biggest year yet; with our help a total of $558,661 went back into the hands of young workers! This money was won back through 107 wage theft claims, 17 discrimination cases, 37 unfair dismissals, and giving 262 workers general advice.
This is more than just money for young workers, this is confirmation that our working rights matter, that when we raise issues in the workplace, we have the power to change things!
Support Padre Coffee Workers!
Melbourne is the place to be for coffee lovers but did you know that coffee roasters at Padre get paid as little as 55k a year, or $26 an hour??
It takes years to develop the expertise to roast coffee, yet it is only just over the minimum wage!!! 😠
That falls well short of what's needed to live in Brunswick East, let alone thrive. Meanwhile, the Company has appointed TWO CEOs, both reportedly earning salaries in the $300,000 range – meaning one executive's pay equals the entire annual wages of the roastery team combined.
The workers are also fighting for paid gender affirmation leave, a huge step in visibility, safety and equality for trans workers. The fact that it’s been dismissed by the company sends a harmful message about who belongs in our workplaces.
Walk for truth!
Over the past four years, Yoorrook Justice Commission has listened to stories, evidence and to the truths of First Peoples and other Victorians from across Victoria as part of our first formal truth-telling process. Now we are invited to listen and learn from the truths Yoorrook has heard. Listen to some of the Truths and find out more here.
YWC joined the final leg of the Walk for Truth, a walk across Victoria in recognition of the first official truth telling in the Country.
It was such a powerful and emotional event, hearing from Yoorrook Deputy Chair Commissioner Travis Lovett on how the time for truth is now, and that only by documenting the past can we have a roadmap to transforming the future for First Peoples and all Victorians. What an important step towards Treaty this year!
“Truth-telling is not a ritual. It’s not symbolic. It’s a reckoning. It’s a commitment to structural, cultural, and legal change.” - Commissioner Travis Lovett
Solidarity Night - Junior Wages Planning
Young Workers are getting organised to ABOLISH JUNIOR WAGES!
In Australia, young people can legally be paid as little as 40% of an adult wage. This is unfair, discriminatory and it puts young people behind. It's time to abolish junior wages. Sign the petition!
This campaign is people powered, so we want your input, your ideas and your actions!
Join us as we debrief the campaign so far and steer its future together. We have some exiting plans coming up, and we want you to be in on them!
WHEN: Tuesday, June 24, 6pm - 7:30pm. (Hang around after and we'll head to the pub!)
WHERE: Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St Carlton
Casual Workers Solidarity Night!
As part of Victorian Law Week, we hosted a panel about the changes to casual work with some incredible speakers including Fair Work Commissioner Oanh Thi Tran, who is not only the the first woman from a refugee background to be appointed to the Fair Work Commission but also our former Principal Solicitor!!! 😍
We also had Kelly Thomas, our Principal Solicitor, on what these new casual conversion laws mean for young workers and how to use them if you want to move to permanent work! They were joined by Grace Dowling, an UWU organiser for the highly casualised hospitality and casino industries, and Joshua McDiarmid, a casual worker and activist who talked about the reality of long-term casual work and what we can do to win change in our workplace.
The new changes to casual work make it easier for young casuals to convert to part-time or full-time work. Check out our website or resources: how to tell if you're a casual worker or use our Template letter for casual conversion request!
3.5% minimum wage increase!
If you are part of the 20% workers on award wages or you're on the minimum wage, you just won a pay rise above inflation!! 💸💸
From the 1st of July 2025, the minimum wage will increase 3.5%, bringing the new minimum wage to $24.95 per hour for full-time and part-time workers 21 and older and $31.18 for casual workers 21 and over.
The mandatory superannuation contribution will also go up to 12%.
It's important to check you're being paid the right amount at any time of the year but make it a habit of checking your pay slip in the first pay period after July 1st. The best way to figure out how much you should be paid is to go to Fairwork and use the Pay and Conditions Tool.
Super payday submission:
At the Young Workers Centre, we see far too many young workers in particular have their Superannuation stolen. Super theft is only getting worse, it's estimated by the Australian Tax Office to amount to $5.2 billion per year in 2023-2024, up from $4.8 billion in the preceding financial year.
We had an opportunity to submit recommendations on the Payday super – exposure draft. We provided 6 recommendations based on our experience with young workers. You can read our full submission here.
The TLDR of our recommendations: 1: Super should be paid on payday! 2: We need to have better monitoring powers for the ATO and Fair Work Ombudsman and Unions! 3: We need to have penalties for repeat offenders! 4:We need Real-Time Public Reporting. 5: We need the right of audit 6. We need to abolish junior wages so we can get young workers earning super early and so they are guaranteed a stable retirement!
Sanctions, Recognition & Peace for Palestine
The Young Workers Centre is part of the union movement, a movement for peace and international solidarity. We continue to be horrified by the humanitarian catastrophe being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza.
As young workers, we are deeply concerned that this is a genocide that is being directly inflicted on a young population: 60% of the population of the Gaza strip is under 25 years old and tens of thousands of children have been killed. Our hearts break seeing young people just like us being starved deliberately and slaughtered while trying to collect aid.
We join the union movement in calling for the Australian Government to take all necessary steps immediately to secure peace and compliance with international law. Sign the petition here.
Book a visit
School visits are now fully booked for high school outreach in Term 3, however bookings are open from term 4 onwards via our typeform here! We still have availability for TAFE apprentice readiness sessions though, so email us at [email protected] to book!
We work to ensure that young workers have the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the complexities of work and unite in advocating for their rights. This newsletter keeps you up to date with what young workers are fighting for!
In solidarity,
The Young Workers Centre
P.S We are so close to 5,000 signatures, help us get rid of junior wages by signing our petition now! Sign here!