Young people’s experiences of employment in the fast food industry – often, their introduction to professional working life – are rarely positive. Australia’s junior pay rate actively discriminates against young workers, who are paid significantly less than workers aged 21 and over despite doing the same demanding job. Simultaneously, studies show that young people working in the fast food industry face disturbingly high risks of injury, exploitation and customer abuse.
‘The industry is seen as such an everyman job – like, anyone can do it, it’s an unskilled profession. When in reality, not only is it something that requires skill, that requires training and should garner more respect, but it’s something that – when others are looking down on it or not maybe reflecting on or recognising people working in those roles – it can lead to disastrous consequences,’ says Blue Hyslop, a 23-year-old actor in Canberra Youth Theatre’s encore season of Work, But This Time Like You Mean It.
