McDonald’s Australia is accused of systematically”churning” its workforce and reducing shifts for employees as they grow old in an attempt to cut costs and hire younger employees.
The international fast food chain is a significant company in Australia with over 100,000 employees in shops throughout the nation, which are mainly franchises.
However, the company and its franchisees have come under scrutiny for participating in what’s been described as a practice of”churning” employees as they grow old to employ younger and cheaper staff.
N Australia, paying junior rates is lawful. Under most awards this allows companies to cover kids who are 14 only 50 per cent of the hourly wage. These rates increase progressively by 10 per cent on every birthday until an employee reaches 21.
According to Mr Cullinan these junior rates create an incentive for McDonald’s to hire younger and cheaper employees and slowly phase out older casual workers as part of a practice that’s called”learn and churn”.
This phrase explains the practice of employees either”learning” by getting supervisors or being churned as they grow old.
According to the business’s statistics, McDonald’s and its franchisees used 103,136 Australians across the country as of February 2018.
67,332 of these employees are aged between 14 and 18 years old.
McDonald’s franchisee who gave evidence as part of this fast food award review confessed in a Fair Work Commission case in July 2018 he had been aware of the practice of”learn and churn”.
He acknowledged he relied on fostering young workers since they’re cheaper, and that as they grew older he had to roster on younger workers.