Paul,

Are you sure that you are qualified to judge how a a mythical street-sweeper would be more "efferent" than I? People, like you, who believe that they are 'superior', really need to be super efficient in their criticism. You fail.

Paul,

Sorry to pull you up again, but....

Baker's delight is a franchise, and the stores are individually owned by the local manager.

Secondly someone > 15 3/4 yrs old is not a child labourer as per the legal definition.

Thirdly, there is the question of why the workers would have stayed if there were jobs offering far more?

Finally, as stated in the article, this agreement expired in 2009 why has it taken nearly 8 years for anyone to raise the issue? If the shoppies union is meant to represent these workers, then they are doing a really crap job. Perhaps they don't care as they are not likely to get the high union fees from minimum wage workers.

How typically the bureaucrat is our Paul.

So obvious he has no idea of the running of anything, except handouts.

From Christmas to Easter, there are so many public holidays that small businesses employing a few to a dozen or two employees have real trouble earning the cost of their staff.

In the tourist industry up north, you could do OK in a good early January, & lose only a few tens of thousands, but chuck in a cyclone any where near by, in the first couple of weeks in January & you could be down a couple of hundred thousand by the end of February.

Even in industry, in the big smoke, many were going to lose money between 20Th December & Easter, with all the overheads, with low returns. In my exchange components business, I needed a considerable bank balance coming into Christmas, to carry both the business & me through the next 4 months.

Amazing how many can sit back & pontificate from a position of total ignorance.

Does the cat have your tongue Paul. Surely one with your self confessed wisdom can answer such a simple question, why the additional public holidays and why are they not traded off with another PH?

And the likes of you sit there wondering why our workforce is so casualized or there are so many contracted workers.

The golden rule you should never forget Paul is that for every action there is a reaction and poor job security is the reaction of over regulated working conditions by the likes of yourself who are not effected.

As i said before, it is between the employer and the worker and is none of your business.

Sorry Toni, i was only trying to have a discussion with you, so please dont run off just because you have been proven wrong.

Shadow, In the bad old days when the Tories, your forefathers, were calling all the shots, there was no child labour, they simply classed them all the same for the purposes of exploitation. Like Howard's 'Work Choices' laws you can enact any legislation you like and call it "legal"
The legislation covering age legalities when it comes to employment in Australia are handled by the states and territories. what are they?
In the ACT, NSW, NT, SA and WA, there is NO MINIMUM AGE, but they generally limit the type of work and the hours that can be worked. In QLD the minimium age is set at 13, but there are exemptions in some circumstamces for under 13's. In VIC it is 15, but you can work at 13 with parental permission, In WA it is 15, but again there are exemptions where those under 15 can be employed in certain industries with limited hours.
If you don't believe there is exploitation of children in the work place, alas "legally" as you put it, I suggest you think again.

"Baker's delight is a franchise, and the stores are individually owned by the local manage" And what about the multi-millionaires the Gillespie's? Where do they fit in.

On the score of unionism, the SDA is the one you are referring to, it is Australias largest, but its your kind of union, right wing do nothing type union, seen as a bosses union, always willing to accommodate.

Butch, I am happy with the holiday arrangements as they are now, see no need for change.

Hassy, you sound like a real philanthropist, I am always glad when you can pop out of the 'Centrelink' office long enough to make a ridiculous post.

ttbn the words is efficient, my typo, and they certainly would be.