YES - Dee Hammerson, head of youth service, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
For me, this is an equality issue. If young people are old enough to work, then they should have the same rights as everyone else, which should include a fixed minimum wage. So often, young people are treated as second-class citizens, not subject to the same rights as others. They are the unheard and unheeded.
According to the TUC's press release of 14 March, some young people are still only earning between 1 and 2 an hour. This became apparent for me last night when I spoke to a 17-year-old who is earning 55 a week for 40 hours' work. It costs him 10.50 a week in bus fares to get to work. Previously, when he was 16, he earned 1 an hour working in a supermarket.
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