SDA uses social media to tell fast food workers their rights

THE SDA, the union for workers in retail and fast food, is launching a new drive to recruit young workers starting their first job and to talk to them about their rights where they are, on social media.

SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said new recruitment drive, which would be rolled out over social media was a response to research which found young workers had very limited knowledge of their rights or the role of unions.

“Young people entering the workforce for the first time have very little knowledge of their rights or the role unions can play in helping them with their workplace problems," Mr Dwyer said.

“Its safe to say that a large number of young people barely know unions exist, let alone how they can help, or why they should join one.

“Additionally, research from the University of Sydney found that 25 percent of student retail workers were being underpaid, and 35 percent were not receiving the correct weekend rates.

“We decided that we really needed to take a ‘back to basics’ approach, providing simple, easy to understand information about workplace rights, what unions are and what they do.

“That’s why our first video answers the basic question of ‘what is a union?'

“Further videos explain basic workplace concepts like wages, weekends, annual and equal pay and are designed to speak with young workers at their level," Mr Dwyer said.

“In addition to providing accessible and straightforward information we also wanted to reach young workers where they currently were, and that’s on Snapchat, Instagram and to a lesser degree Facebook.”

Mr Dwyer said that in addition to the videos, which will be advertised across several social media platforms over the coming weeks, the SDA has also developed a young worker hub called 100% Pay to provide reliable information on workplace rights and how the union could assist.

“We developed 100% Pay as a place where young retail and fast food workers can go for simple and clear information about their basic rights at work," he said. 

“To get them started, we’ve provided a quick quiz on their six basic rights at work. If a young worker finds they are not receiving what they’re entitled to, they can get in contact with the union.”

Mr Dwyer said that the SDA’s new focus was consistent with the ACTU’s drive to recruit and assist young workers, which was to be discussed at the ACTU triennial Congress in Brisbane this week.

The 100% Pay videos can be found here or visit the 100% Pay website here.

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