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Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
DELIVERING THE GOODS
Responses to a survey of newspaper and leaflet delivery workers aged 10-16 years
2006
“Crossing a road I nearly got hit...[it was] good that the car had good brakes…[it] screeched to a halt.”
13-year-old pamphlet deliverer
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Published by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand PO Box 12-193
Thorndon
Wellington 6144 New Zealand
[email protected] www.caritas.org.nz
©CARITAS
ISBN: 0-908631-39-1
Survey Coordinators: Lisa Beech and Richard Noble Researcher: Richard Noble
Caritas gratefully acknowledges the young people who took part in the survey by giving their time and sharing their experiences, and the parents and schools who facilitated this participation.
Thanks also to Lee Tan, Ruth Gasson (Dunedin College of Education), Peter Shuttleworth (Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa), and Michelle
Ngakai (Ministry of Youth Development) for their input into the design of the interview format.
Caritas gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the JR McKenzie Trust.
Introduction
Unfortunately, even today one finds instances of contracts between employers and employees which lack reference to the most elementary justice regarding the employment of children or women, working hours, the hygienic condition of the workplace and fair pay; and this is the case despite the international declarations
and conventions on the subject and the internal laws of states.
Pope John Paul II, 1991
Every country has its child workers. It can be easy to criticise from a distance the young bonded labourers of South Asia, or the chimney sweeps of Victorian England.
However, in those societies, the work of children could be invisible to many, either because it is literally out of sight, or because it is so familiar that those around it do not question it.
In 2003 Caritas undertook a survey of children’s working experiences to inform our own advocacy on New Zealand’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We were overwhelmed with the response, and shocked by some of the stories we heard, and so were many other New Zealanders.
Much of the attention our report received became focused on the worst cases – cases which were clearly in breach of New Zealand’s labour legislation. These worst-case situations deserve more attention from those charged with overseeing the conditions of workers in New Zealand, and the implementation of health and safety laws.
However, as an agency, our attention was increasingly drawn to the most visible and yet frequently overlooked area of children’s employment – those who deliver to letterboxes in most households in New Zealand. Our 2003 survey told us that this was one of the major work experiences of the youngest children who responded to us – those between the ages of 10 and 12.
Our 2003 survey also told us that many children employed in delivery work enjoyed many aspects of their work. Their positive experiences included enjoyment of being outdoors, of gaining physical fitness and of earning some money for themselves.
However, concern was also expressed by children about low pay rates, heavy loads, and accidents involving traffic and dogs.
Delivery to letterboxes is not exclusively children’s employment in New Zealand. A direct comparison is available to us by considering the working conditions of adult postal workers, and people of all ages undertake delivery work for the various
circular and newspaper distribution companies. However, we believe that, generally speaking, the delivery of advertising circulars and community newspapers to
letterboxes is primarily dependent on the work of children and young people.
We wanted to take a closer look at the conditions of children employed in delivery work. Most New Zealanders will have seen a child working in this situation. Many will have undertaken this work themselves, or perhaps have a child or other relative working in this industry. We invite you to join with us in considering whether children are adequately protected in this child-dependent industry. As the children deliver paper to our letterboxes, are the adults responsible for overseeing their working experiences also “delivering the goods”?
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Contents
Introduction 5
Background 7
Catholic social teaching on children’s rights and workers’
rights
9
Survey participants 11
What do they deliver? 12
How much do they enjoy their work? 14
How could their job be improved? 17
Terms and conditions of employment 18
How much are they paid? 21
Tax and ACC 25
Employment relations 27
Help from family or friends 31
Health and safety 33
Impact on participants’ schoolwork and leisure time 38
Union membership 40
Discussion 42
Best practice 52
Conclusion 53
Background
In our day and age, the recognition of the rights of the child has undoubtedly made progress. But the violation of these rights in practice…remains a cause for distress
and, at the same time, calls us into action.
Intervention by the Holy See at the United Nations, 2003
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is the Catholic agency for Justice, Peace and
Development. We are an agency of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, and undertake development and relief work internationally, and advocacy and education for social justice in New Zealand. We are part of the Caritas
Internationalis confederation, which has member organisations in 162 countries.
The basis of our work is Catholic social teaching.
In 2003, as part of our ongoing research into and advocacy for children’s rights in New Zealand, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand surveyed almost 5000 New Zealand schoolchildren about their work experiences. The responses we received included stories which raised concerns about some aspects of the employment of children under the age of 18.
The resulting report generated significant media interest, arising out of the flagrant abuses of legal protections for many working children uncovered by the survey. The Department of Labour responded in acknowledgement of the survey’s findings by updating its website to include guidelines on child employment.
In addition to highlighting breaches of current legislation on children’s work, the 2003 report also pointed to shortfalls in this legislation, and to a lack both of good protection for child workers, and of the resources available to promote or develop such protection in this area of employment. To this end, the 2003 report made the following recommendations.
Children will be better protected in the workplace when:
• there is a minimum age of employment (or a staggered age entry to different types of work)
• there is a minimum wage tied to the age of entry to the workforce
• there is comprehensive monitoring of health and safety conditions of children who work
• there is contract coverage of all children working outside the home
• there is appropriate education in schools and communities about children’s employment rights, targeted at children from the age of entry to the workforce
• there is appropriate collective organisation of children in the workforce through union membership
• household poverty is addressed so that children do not have to work to supplement family income
• existing restrictions on children’s hours of work and employment in hazardous work are strictly enforced.
Although our 2003 survey interviewed only children over the age of 10, a
DominionPost1 news story in 2005 drew attention to the fact that children as young
1 8-year-olds claim ACC for work injuries, DominionPost page 1, 6 August 2005
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as eight were claiming Accident Compensation (ACC) payments for work-related injuries. The injuries reported included “strains caused by heavy lifting, falling from bicycles and being attacked by dogs”. These injuries are more associated with outdoor delivery work than, for example, indoor retail sales.
In 2006 Caritas decided to undertake a follow-up survey, focusing specifically on children employed to deliver newspapers and advertising circulars as this is an industry which employs large numbers of young people in New Zealand. We conducted individual interviews with 30 young people aged from 10 to 16 years employed in letterbox delivery work. The interviews took place between September and November 2006.
Our survey was intended to provide a snap-shot of some of the situations of children in this industry. For this reason, the survey focused on gathering qualitative
information, rather than quantitative information, with the intention of shedding light on children’s participation in a growing industry which employs a significant number of child workers. We hope to see that better resourced and better qualified
organisations, such as the Department of Labour, build on this work with more comprehensive research on children’s work experiences.
Parental consent was sought and given for participation in the survey, on the understanding that children would not be individually identified in the report. It is possible that this factor affects the stories given to Caritas, for example concerning parental support and involvement in children’s work.
Because of resource constraints, interviews were limited to participants in the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington, which gave a geographic representation from Westport to the Wairarapa, including Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley. Initial invitations were sent to a representation of Catholic schools across 10 deciles. Final participants reflected the range of socio-economic groupings, with participants from schools in each of the 10 deciles, but also included some non-Catholic school - and one home-schooled - participants.
Children’s participation in the workforce requires a consideration of both their
protection and participation rights. It is important to hear and consider their own views and feelings about their good and bad employment experiences. It is
important that consultation with young workers and their families is part of any ongoing work programme on a minimum age of employment, and conditions of work for children and young people.
It is very clear that in recent years the balance of power has tipped further in favour of employers and, therefore, workers require the specific protection of the State.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, 1998
Catholic social teaching on children’s rights and workers’ rights
Catholic social teaching is the term used to describe the body of Catholic statements on issues of justice, poverty and inequality. It has its origins in the Scriptural
tradition of care for the poor and vulnerable, and the teaching of the early Catholic Church founders about our responsibility to respond to poverty and injustice.
Modern Catholic social thought is often dated from the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, in 1891, which was written in response to the condition of workers in 19th century Europe. The relationship between workers and employers, and the rights and responsibilities of work, continued to be a strong theme in the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, including Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) in 1981 and Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) in 1991.
The earliest mention of children in modern Catholic social thought is in relation to their working lives, in the context of the child labour of the Industrial Revolution.
However, this has broadened into a wider focus on children’s provision, protection and participation rights, as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by the Holy See in 1990 and New Zealand in 1993.
Key principles of Catholic social teaching on employment include:
Work is “for workers” and not the worker “for work”. Workers and employees are not tools of production but the centre and focus of work.
The Church’s role is to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work.
Working relationships are primarily about relationships between people, and raise social and ethical questions about how people relate to work and to each other.
Unjust and unequal relationships and structures in society can be reflected in unequal relationships between employers and employees.
The Church recognises and supports both private property rights and economic initiative of owners and businesses, but understands that these rights are not absolute but are subject to the common good, which recognises the rights and responsibilities of all people.
Workers have the right to be represented by unions which “as an indispensable element in modern, industrialised societies are to be a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice”.
Key principles of Catholic social teaching on children’s rights include:
• Children are equal in human dignity to adults, and deserve to have this dignity respected. The rights of children must be legally protected.
• The situation of many children is far from satisfactory, despite the existence of UNCROC which is binding on almost all members of the international community.
Child labour is listed among the most serious of concerns about children.
• As some of the most vulnerable members of our society, children deserve our particular attention to ensure their wellbeing. Catholic social teaching in general says that the measure of any policy is its effect on the most poor and vulnerable members of society.
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Work is in the first place "for the worker" and not the worker "for work."
Work itself can have greater or lesser objective value, but all work should be judged by the measure of dignity given to the person who carries it out.
Pope John Paul II, 1981 (Donders translation)
Caritas Children’s Delivery Work Survey 2006 The survey participants
Thirty young people between the ages of 10 and 16 years from Wellington City, the Hutt Valley, Porirua Basin, the Wairarapa and Westport were interviewed between September and November 2006.
Participants represented each of the ten school deciles and a range of school years (Years 5, 7-11). Interviewees came from a variety of ethnicities/cultural
backgrounds although they were predominantly Pakeha/NZ European, with representation also of children from Maori, Samoan, Indian, Chinese and
Zimbabwean backgrounds. Seventeen of the interviewees were boys and 13 were girls, with an average age of just under 12½ years.
Participants by age
Age Number of
participants
10 1
11 3
12 16
13 4
14 4
15 1
16 2
Participants by school decile School
decile
Number of participants
1 2
2 1
3 1
4 4
5 3
6 5
7 3
8 5
9 2
10 3
Homeschooled 1
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What do they deliver, and how much?
“Local newspapers and junk mail – folding and delivering.”
(12-year-old)
The most common types of delivery work reported were:
• Advertising circulars only
• Advertising circulars and weekly community newspapers
• Daily newspapers delivered to subscribers
Exceptions to these categories included one person who was casually employed for a couple of months to deliver advertising flyers for open homes, and a couple of
participants who appeared to deliver mainly local newspapers with occasional advertising inserts. A few respondents indicated that occasionally they had other
“extras” to deliver, e.g. supermarket coupon books, plastic bags for charity used- clothes collections, and in one case, delivering addressed letters to customers of one of the local power companies.
For those delivering either circulars or both circulars and community newspapers, there was a large variation in the number of letterboxes delivered to, and the number of different leaflets for delivery on any given day. There was more consistency among those delivering one or other of the two daily papers. The following random cross-section serves as an illustration.
Circulars only
• Up to 10 circulars each to 270 letterboxes
• Between 2 to 4 circulars each to 150-200 letterboxes
• Between 5 to 15 circulars each to 210 letterboxes
• Up to 13 circulars each to between 270-300 letterboxes
• Up to 14 circulars each to 160 letterboxes
• Up to 6 circulars each to about 100 letterboxes
Circulars and community newspapers
• Up to 9 circulars each to 150 letterboxes and162 local newspapers
• Up to 7 circulars each to between 170 to 180 letterboxes and about 360 local newspapers (2 runs of about 180 each)
• Between 2 to 9 circulars each to 74 letterboxes and 100 local newspapers
• Between 2 to 13 circulars each to 110 houses and 135 local newspapers The difference between the number of letterboxes receiving circulars and those getting local papers on the same run arises from the requirement by distributors that circulars are not delivered to letterboxes with a “No junk mail” or similar notice, whereas community newspapers are delivered to all letterboxes.
Daily newspapers
• Newspaper “A”: 80 and 88 papers respectively
• Newspaper “B”: 29, 37, 38, and 47 papers respectively
Those delivering daily papers indicated that the number of papers to be delivered could fluctuate as subscriptions were commenced or cancelled.
How long have they been working?
“Nearly 4 years”
(12-year-old)
Participants had been working for between one month and four years, with a third of them employed for a year or more. Five of those interviewed no longer undertook delivery work (although for one of these the position had been a temporary one);
one interviewee had left one delivery job for another which they felt offered better pay and conditions; another had for a while been contracted to two different
distributors in order to save for a specific goal: once this was reached, he ended his contract with the distributor which he felt offered the less beneficial pay and
conditions, while continuing with the other.
Do they have other paid work?
Over a third of respondents indicated they had paid work in addition to their delivery job. In most cases this was home chores, but other tasks included sweeping the floor at a local shop, supermarket checkout, babysitting, and making and selling beaded jewellery.
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Work remains a good thing, not only because it is useful and enjoyable, but also because it expresses and increases the worker's dignity.
Through work we not only transform the world, we are transformed ourselves, becoming "more a human being."
Pope John Paul II, 1981 (Donders translation)
How much do the survey participants enjoy their work?
“It’s annoying having to fold pamphlets but I enjoy the walking and delivering.”
(14-year-old)
Overall, most of the participants employed in delivery work at the time of the survey report ranged from neutral to very positive in their feelings about their work. Many had aspects of the work they preferred and aspects they didn’t like so much.
“It’s good”. (11-year-old)
“90% of the time I like doing it.” (12-year-old)
“On sunny days I really enjoy it; on windy and wet days I still enjoy going out for a walk but it can be quite annoying.” (12-year-old)
“I love it because it makes me fit for rugby.” (12-year-old)
“Yeah, it’s pretty good.” (13-year-old)
“I don’t hate it but I don’t like it either.” (16-year-old)
“It’s OK – it gets quite boring.” (12-year-old)
“Depends on the weather – I don’t like doing it in rain or really nice weather but it’s OK in average weather.” (12-year-old)
“It’s pretty good.” (12-year-old)
“It’s fun, a bit of exercise.” (12-year-old)
Those who had really disliked the work had given it up, with the following an indication of the reasons for this.
“I didn’t like the work ’cos I had sports on after school and had to miss sports … probably also the pay - I worked every day but the pay didn’t feel right.” (12-year- old)
“I enjoyed my paper round at the start but I didn’t like having to do it in any condition so I stopped liking it, and stopped doing it.” (13-year-old)
“Because the conditions were really bad … it took too long to fold and too long to deliver.” (12-year-old)
“The pay wasn’t good.” (12-year-old)
What aspects of their work do they like most?
“You get paid, you get fit, and you meet lots of new friends.”
(11-year-old)
The most frequent answer to this question concerned earning money, with
enjoyment of getting out and about, keeping fit, and meeting folk whilst delivering also valued by participants.
“Getting paid” (12-year-old); (13-year-old); (12-year-old); (11-year-old)
“Keeping fit” (13-year-old); (12-year-old)
“Going for bike rides, getting used to riding on roads” (12-year-old)
“Getting paid for taking the dog for a walk; the money; the exercise” (14-year-old)
“… seeing Grandma each day” (14-year-old)
“I enjoy talking to the nice old people; getting paid.” (13-year-old)
“Talking to people I know on the round; it keeps me fit for dancing.” (12-year-old)
“Walking the circuit and delivering” (14-year-old)
“Getting paid and days when the papers are light” (12-year-old)
“Walking around” (15-year-old)
“Getting paid – everything else is quite lousy and the pay isn’t that great either.”
(12-year-old)
“It makes me organised; having my own money.” (11-year-old)
“Walking with friends while doing the run; getting paid.” (12-year-old)
“Possibly the exercise, ’cos I love my sport; maybe a little bit of the money – I get to spend it on what I want.” (12-year-old)
“I earn the money myself.” (12-year-old)
What do they like least?
“When it’s raining, it’s really hard.”
(12-year-old)
The most frequent answer to this question involved the effect of bad weather on their work, while other aspects of the work they disliked included folding material, the size of the workload, the amount of time required for the delivery, and the time taken for work. Pay was also commented on frequently.
“Sometimes it hurts.” (13-year-old)
“On rainy days it’s sort of crap … knowing that the circulars get chucked out so it’s not satisfying that what you’re delivering gets chucked out the next day … also, I don’t believe in all the consumerism so I almost think it’s wrong – I deliver it and get paid but it’s a cause for people to go out and buy stuff and that’s wrong.” (12-year- old)
“Doing it in all weather conditions.” (12-year-old)
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“Having to do a boring job and thinking about what else you could be doing; and not enough pay.” (13-year-old)
“You can’t sleep in on Saturdays and sometimes miss out on TV shows after school … you’ve still got to do your run if you’re sick.” (11-year-old)
“Sometimes I can’t be bothered doing it.” (12-year-old)
“When it’s cold, I’ve still got to do it.” (14-year-old)
“Folding” (14-year-old); (15-year-old); (12-year-old)
“Rainy days” (13-year-old)
“I had to keep marching up and downhill – the big area covered by the delivery.”
(12-year-old)
“Takes up time; bad weather; folding” (14-year-old)
“When work stops you doing other things.” (11-year-old)
“Sometimes it’s a bit annoying – just having to do it sometimes.” (11-year-old)
Workers not only want fair pay, they also want to share in the responsibility and creativity of the very work process. They want to feel that they are working for themselves - an awareness that is smothered in a bureaucratic system where they
only feel themselves to be "cogs" in a huge machine moved from above.
Pope John Paul II, 1981 (Donders translation)
How could their job be improved?
“More delivery workers are needed to reduce the workload although this would reduce pay.”
(16-year-old)
A little under two-thirds of participants offered suggestions as to how their work could be improved. Common responses included receiving material already folded, fairer pay, provision of equipment for carrying material (e.g. trundler), and greater flexibility around delivery timeframes.
“Maybe if I got paid more.” (12-year-old)
“Flexibility around delivery times to take account of the weather.” (12-year-old)
“If [the material] came already folded” (12-year-old); (12-year-old); (14-year-old)
“… more money than $15 a week for delivering 88 papers a day.” (13-year-old)
“At the moment everyone gets paid the same amount regardless of how many papers they deliver.” (11-year-old)
“Better pay.” (14-year-old)
“If there were no dogs and it was always sunny and there was a machine for folding.” (12-year-old)
“It would be nice if the material was already folded and some way of carrying it was provided.” (12-year-old)
“Extra pay to account for hills.” (12-year-old)
“Make the pay good; have ready-folded material.” (12-year-old)
“Some sort of trolley for transporting the papers would be nice; lighter papers; no delivery deadline.” (13-year-old)
“When it’s raining they could extend the delivery deadline by a day.” (12-year-old)
A solitary worker facing negotiations with an employer is often not free to choose anything other than between unemployment and that which is offered.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, 1998
Terms and conditions of employment
“Is it still a valid contract if unsigned?”
(13-year-old)
Most of the participants appeared to have a written contract or agreement, and had sought help from parents prior to agreeing to this. Some were able to bring copies of their employment contract or agreement to the interview. All contracts sighted were from the advertising circular companies.
The majority of workers were self-employed contractors to one of three distribution companies which operate nationwide; in one case this involved contracting to a local distribution franchise. In a couple of instances, an older sibling or friend held the contract and the interviewee would help them regularly on a paid basis. In some other cases, the interviewee held the contract, but the work was completed by a number of family members. Two participants were unsure of the company by which they were contracted, instead giving the name of the person who dropped off the material for delivery and supervised their run.
Six participants delivered daily newspapers to subscribers and it appears that these workers were directly employed by the newspaper company. One interviewee was casually employed by a local real estate agent to deliver advertising flyers for open homes.
Notes on the employment contracts
Employment status
One of the newspapers regarded its child delivery workers as employees, with
benefits such as sick and holiday pay. However, employment contracts for the main advertising circular delivery companies specify that the worker is an independent contractor, and not an employee:
Some examples include:
Contract A: “The parties acknowledge that this agreement is entered into by both parties on the basis that the Deliverer is an independent Contractor and that the Deliverer is not an agent or employee of the Company….The Contractor is an independent Contractor and as such is free…to select the Contractor’s own means and methods of performing the services and, subject to the delivery window
requested by [Company], the hours during which the Contractor will perform those services.”
Contract B: “You are employed by [Company] under a contract for services, which means that you are an independent contractor. This contract does not therefore create an employment relationship between you and [Company].”
Contract C: “All Distributors are Independent Contractors and therefore are required to file an IR3 at the end of each year.”
Contract D: “The Contractor is an independent Contractor and as such is free (in addition to the Contractor’s freedom to engage sub-contractors and others to use carrying equipment…) to select the Contractor’s own means and methods of
performing the services…The Contractor shall bear all costs and expenses incurred by the Contractor in connection with the performance of the services.
Pay rates
Pay rate information given to workers varies.
Contract A includes a box with information for different rates of circular delivery based on weight. However, all the boxes are blank with the exception of that of the highest weight, which just states: “as advised by supervisor”. This contract also says:
“We set delivery rates based on how long we consider that it would take an average person to deliver in your allocated area. We reserve the right to change delivery rates from time to time.”
Contract B specifies rates in a separate schedule, which was not given to our interviewer: “The employee will be paid at the piece rates as set out on the rates schedule which is attached to this agreement.”
Contract C provides detailed tables of prices by weight and number of pages, but also contains the following sentence: “These rates apply from commencement of your contract until 31 March 2008, after which time they expire and new rates will be set by your Franchisee by notice to you.”
Contract D says the company “shall pay to the Contractor the fee specified in paragraph seven (7) of the schedule…From time to time, due to circumstances beyond the control of [the company] there may be late changes, cancellations or additions to distributions…necessitating re-calculation of the fee specified in
paragraph seven (7) of the schedule.” However, paragraph 7 does not provide any fee information, stating only that: “This document constitutes the entire agreement between the Company and the Contractor”.
In general, our observation is that insufficient information, and in some cases no information, is given to workers to enable them to understand their pay rates. There also appears to us to be little or no opportunity for negotiation about pay rates under the current circumstances – the workers are in a “take it or leave it” situation.
Conditions of work
In general, our observation would be that the contracts appear to emphasise the responsibilities of workers over their rights. For example, one contract provides a list of “Do’s and Don’ts”. The tasks include instructions such as what houses and area to deliver to, how material is to be folded and placed in a letterbox, information that is to be given to the supervisor about new houses or flats, what to do with excess circulars. One example: “START and FINISH as instructed. Your Supervisor will instruct you when your deliveries are to be undertaken and what your regular delivery days are.” However, in terms of rights or expectations of workers, the contract only contains the sentence “You will be paid approximately monthly”.
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Guarantee of work
Again the circular delivery contracts we have seen generally emphasise the
responsibility of workers to deliver mail, including in some cases finding their own replacement in the case of illness or absence, over the responsibility of the company to provide work. For example, two sections from the same contract:
“Should you be absent due to holidays or sickness, or unable to complete delivery, you must notify your Supervisor immediately. It is your responsibility to arrange for a reliable replacement….Failure to do this is very serious and could mean that you have your contract terminated.”
“You must be aware that due to the nature of our business, we may cease to distribute any regular publication without notice, and due to the demands of clients and volumes of work may need to vary the timing and volume of material you are asked to handle. Where the situation is such that you will not receive any more delivery work from us, you may not receive any notice to this effect although we will try to give you notice.”
Our observation is that these two paragraphs show an unbalanced power relationship between the company and the contractor.
Signature of parent or guardian
Several contracts require co-signatures by parent or guardian if the contractor is under 18 years of age. This is appropriate as a contract signed by a minor cannot be legally enforced. However, in only one contract we were shown was the contract co- signed by a parent. In most cases, there was also no signature for the distribution company. There were also two contracts supplied to us which did not have provision for a co-signature by a parent or guardian.
We consider it our duty to reaffirm that the remuneration of work is not something that can be left to the laws of the marketplace; nor should it be a decision left to the
will of the more powerful.
Pope John XXIII, 1961
How much are they paid?
Payment to those employed as contractors is calculated on both the number and weight of material to be delivered so remuneration varies greatly between delivery workers, and often for each worker from week to week. Those delivering daily newspapers appear to be paid a flat rate for each daily delivery.
Based on a crude assessment of the data, most of the pay rates fell somewhere between $1.67 and $6.25 per hour. This is difficult to calculate accurately, as many children were uncertain of their exact pay, and said it varied considerably, and the amount of time taken to complete the work also varied considerably. In addition, some households shared income among a number of family members who were engaged in the work, while in others a parent obviously undertook significant aspects of the work without pay, such as folding or sharing delivery work.
In all cases, the workers understood their pay to be gross pay (tax is discussed further on page 23).
Some individual examples are given below:
A (13-year-old) earns $83-$105 per month for 12 hours circular and community newspaper delivery per week (estimated hourly rate range from $1.72 to $2.15)
D (12-year-old) earns $16 per week for 3-5 hours newspaper delivery per week (estimated hourly rate range from $3.20 to $5.30)
F (13-year-old) earns $15 per week for 5-6 hours newspaper and circular delivery per week (estimated hourly rate $2.50 to $3.00)
G (11-year-old) earns a flat rate of $2.71 per day for newspaper delivery, which takes approximately one hour
K (14-year-old) earns $38.15 per fortnight for newspaper delivery, which takes approximately 8 hours (estimated hourly rate of $4.75)
O (12-year-old) and P (10-year-old) are brothers who share a delivery round with their mother, earning between $100 and $155 per month. The boys’ contribution is 4.5 hours delivery work per week, with the mother completing the folding of circulars and sharing delivery work, (estimated shared hourly rate for two between $5.50 and
$8.60, not including the mother’s contribution)
S (13-year-old) earns $180 per month for newspaper delivery undertaken with his father and two brothers, approximately 2 hours per week for four people. The pay is shared 60/20/20 between the boys, with the father’s contribution being voluntary (estimated base hourly rate between four participants is $5.62 per person, however S earns higher equivalent rate of around $13.00 per hour because of the unequal income distribution, and because the father’s contribution is voluntary)
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U (16-year-old) earns $150 per month for approximately 6 hours leaflet delivery work per week (estimated hourly rate of $6.25)
W (11-year-old) earns between $50 and $100 per fortnight for 15 hours circular delivery work per week (estimated hourly rate ranges from $1.67 to $3.30)
AA (11-year-old) earns between $30 and $45 per month for 3 hours work per week (estimated hourly rate ranges from $2.50 to $3.75)
Pay periods included weekly, fortnightly, twice-monthly and monthly.2
The highest effective pay rate in the survey was that of J who earned $5 a week for delivering real estate pamphlets, which took approximately 20 minutes – an
equivalent pay rate of $15 per hour. However, the higher equivalent hourly rate is not indicative of earnings without a better understanding of the amount of time taken to collect pamphlets and walk home, and taking into account that it would take three weeks to earn the hourly rate.
Sick pay and holiday pay
“If I get sick I still have to do it anyway.”
(13-year-old)
The division between workers treated as employees and those treated as contractors is most clearly seen in the provision of sick and holiday pay.
One newspaper provides both a holiday pay loading on each payslip, and provides cover for sick leave, with some participants in the survey picking up additional work when covering other rounds as relievers. In contrast, those who have the status of contractors are asked to find their own holiday and relief work, and additionally did not appear to be given paid leave even in the case of work-related accidents.
However, in at least one case, the distributor did assist a worker with relief cover while he was on holiday with family.
Examples from leaflet/circular delivery
“You have to organise your own substitute and inform [employer] but I have not had to do this yet.” (12-year-old)
“Had sore or broken toe from trampoline, but did pamphlets anyway.” (12-year-old)
“Last Christmas…had trouble finding relief – the distributor covered it.” (12-year-old)
“[If sick] get Mum to do it. If all away, see if friends or Nana available.” (12-year- old)
“See if family members can fill in.” (14-year-old)
“Stayed at home and folded while off school.” (14-year-old)
2 Two participants from the same household working for the same distribution company stated that they were paid every five weeks. All other interviewees contracted to this company who were able to specify a pay period indicated that they were paid monthly, so Caritas assumes that the “5-weekly” pay period indicated by respondents # 016 and 017 is inaccurate.
“Sisters or friends or Mum cover when sick…Christmas is difficult.” (12-year-old)
“Have to get your own person – not sure if notice required to organise relief.” (16- year-old)
“Ask Nana to do it, and she’s happy to do it.” (12-year-old)
“Call [company] and they find someone to cover (this hasn’t happened yet). Still do it if sick.” (12-year-old)
“Still did it if sick.” (12-year-old)
“Sick – brother and Mum would cover. Holiday – grandfather would cover.” (11- year-old)
Examples from newspaper delivery
“Tell the distributor and they would find a reliever.” (12-year-old)
“You have a week of sick leave and 3 weeks paid holiday leave and [employer] will arrange relief.” (11-year-old)
“Ring up [employer] who will organise relief. When signing up with [employer] have the option of being available as a reliever.” (14-year-old)
Do you think your pay is fair?
“No, not with the amount we have to do every week.” (13-year–old)
“Reasonably fair – way lower than the minimum wage but we are kids and there is no minimum wage.” (12-year-old)
Interviewees were split relatively evenly on whether or not their pay was fair. A recurring complaint on this point from a number of the young contractors was that when enquiring about entering into a contract, the distribution companies had indicated somewhat greater remuneration than in fact proved to be the case. For example, one interviewee said they usually received in the region of $100 per month, but at the time of signing the contract their supervisor had written “approx. $150- 230 per month” to indicate what they could expect to receive. The worker was naturally disappointed to find this was never in fact the case, and a number of other participants recounted a similar experience.
For those who suggested a pay rate they considered to be more fair for the work, the rates suggested were generally higher than those being paid, though not as high as the minimum youth wage.
“Should be $7 per hour” (13-year-old)
“Should be a minimum wage for kids - $6 per hour” (12-year-old)
“$25 per week” [currently $15] (13-year-old)
“10c per paper - $3.80 per day” [currently $2.71] (11-year-old)
“A little bit more – pay isn’t fair” (14-year-old) “$2-3 more per hour” (16-year-old)
24
How long does it take?
The amount of time required to undertake the work also varied greatly, from 20 minutes (delivering flyers advertising open homes for a real estate company) to 15 hours (delivering circulars and community newspapers) a week, with the weekly average being roughly in the region of 4-4½ hours. Those delivering daily papers could count on a relatively set length of delivery time from day to day. A significant factor affecting the time taken to fold and deliver material for those delivering
advertising circulars is the number of different leaflets for delivery to each letterbox, and the thickness of those leaflets, on any given day.
Union organisations have the duty to exercise influence in the political arena, making it duly sensitive to labour problems and helping it to work so that worker’s
rights are respected.
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004
Tax and ACC
“I don’t know about tax – but I don’t get taxed.”
(11-year-old)
Tax
Four interviewees brought copies of payslips, which showed that in each case tax was not being deducted, though there was potential for this to happen.
One payslip from an advertising circular delivery company includes the information:
“The Inland Revenue Department has changed the threshold for child tax to
$2340.00 which means that most children will not need to have tax deducted in a financial year.” This payslip includes a total of Year to Date income, and a line referring to Withholding Tax, which is recorded as “0” since the earnings are well below the threshold.
A second payslip from a newspaper company, that considers the worker to be an employee, includes IRD number and refers to Gross and Net pay, which are the same, as the earnings to date remain under the child tax threshold.
The third payslip includes information that Withholding Tax of 15% can be deducted, but again that does not appear to be the case in this situation, where the annual total is well under the child tax threshold. The fourth also refers to Gross and Net payments, with these being the same figure.
A third of respondents had no awareness of tax with the remainder able to give some indication as to what they understood it to be, as the following examples show. One person specifically referred to the under 16-year-old non-tax threshold of $2340.
“Children earning under $2340 don’t pay tax.” (12-year-old)
“When you get some money, some gets taken off – the younger you are, the more they take.” (13-year-old)
“You get a little bit of money taken off if you’re in a proper job. I don’t know why I don’t pay tax.” (12-year-old)
“We pay taxes to government and in return they provide public services.” (14-year- old)
“The government takes some of your money.” (14-year-old)
“Money that goes to the government off your pay.” (13-year-old)
“Paying money to the government for living in NZ.” (12-year-old)
“Money taken away to be paid to government for working services.” (12-year-old)
“It’s basically stuff you get taken off your pay and earnings and given to the government.” (14-year-old)
26 ACC
There is no mention in any of the contracts or payslips shown to us of Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) deductions, including where the responsibility for payments lies. In the case of the newspaper company directly employing deliverers, we have assumed the employer is also paying ACC deductions. In the other cases, where the child is deemed to be a contractor, we have assumed that no payments are being made.
No participant in our survey had received a request for payment from ACC, or any information about work related compensation.
As with taxation, a third of interviewees had no awareness of ACC, with the
remainder being able to offer some sort of explanation of accident compensation. In some cases this knowledge appeared to be grounded in personal experience of
receiving ACC. One worker had specifically asked for an ACC referral from her GP for back problems resulting from pushing a heavy load on a trolley.
General awareness about ACC included:
“If you get hurt, they pay for your treatment.” (12-year-old)
“Apparently there isn’t any [ACC coverage] for paper runs.” (11-year-old)
“When you get hurt when you work, you can claim for the doctor’s bill.” (14-year-old)
“When you have an accident they pay for it.” (13-year-old)
“You give money to them, put in a trust, to help you pay for accidents that happen on the job or anywhere.” (16-year-old)
“Helps you pay medical bills or if you’ve been to hospital they can make it free or reduce the costs.” (12-year-old)
“If you hurt yourself and if it’s an accident, the government will pay you money or reduce your medical bills if you go to physiotherapy or stuff like that.” (14-year-old)
“If I fell off my bike, I could go to the doctor’s for free.” (11-year-old)
“When I got hurt and got crutches, the ACC paid for it instead of me.” (12-year-old)
Comment
Caritas has no difficulty with the under-16 non-tax threshold, which seems a fair way of handling the very low incomes earned by most children. However, one outcome of this threshold appears to be that many children become invisible to Inland Revenue and therefore to organisations which depend on an IRD statement of earnings, such as ACC. Our understanding is that, strictly speaking, self-employed contractors are still required to make a tax return, even if tax is not required. However, if children had the employment status of employees, their employers would declare their
earnings as part of their ongoing obligations. This would give a much clearer picture of the size of children’s participation in the workforce than is the case at present. It would also clarify ACC obligations and entitlements.
According to Church teaching human labour has special dignity. Human beings are always more important than capital: workers are not instruments in the whole
production process but are to be treated as the true subjects of work.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, 1981
Employment relations
“I never actually see them [my employers] – the only contact was the discussion of the contract - there’s been no further contact.”
(12-year-old)
Many of those contracted to distribution companies commented that they had very limited contact with their local distributor/supervisor, e.g. they had never actually met them and in some cases had only ever spoken with them once, when negotiating the contract. In contrast, the children directly employed by one newspaper company all knew their supervisor personally.
Despite these different extremes, participants had mostly a view of their distributors/employers ranging from neutral to positive.
“The previous supervisor was very abusive – he was replaced by the current supervisor who’s very nice.” (13-year-old)
“I’ve never actually met my supervisor – I’ve talked to him on the phone occasionally but that’s about it.” (12-year-old)
“Pretty good – I was trustworthy so they were easy on me but my friend who wasn’t good got a hard time.” (13-year-old)
“My original supervisor was really nice; I haven’t really spoken to the new people – I’ve seen them and waved, and they waved back.” (12-year-old)
“I don’t really have much contact with my supervisor – just talked on phone when applying for the job.” (14-year-old)
“She’s nice to talk to – it’s nice to help her and she helps us.” (12-year-old)
“I hardly ever see them – no strong feelings.” (13-year-old)
“This guy is quite a bit nicer – not just a voice on the end of the phone – do actually see him.” (16-year-old)
“Pretty good – when I started the previous area representative was a bit disorganised but now we’ve got a good one.” (14-year-old)
“Good – she’s nice.” (11-year-old)
“I’ve never seen her – she just drops the papers off when I’m at school.” (11-year- old)
“Quite good actually – they’re really quite friendly.” (12-year-old)
28
Problems and unfair treatment
Nonetheless, approximately a third of participants identified that there had been problems to be resolved and/or incidents when they considered themselves to have been unfairly treated.
“The previous supervisor was angry with me for not completing my run in one day, and stolen mail was blamed on me. He was very abusive – we used to get angry emails. We complained further up the chain of command and he was fired.” (13- year-old)
“One time I had a really big real estate directory. I got paid at the 50g rate but the directory was much heavier than this. I was going to take it up but my dad
persuaded me not to – he said it was only for a couple of dollars and so it wasn’t worth the hassle taking the time to try and resolve it.” (12-year-old)
“Less pay compared with friend who does the same number of houses.” (14-year-old)
“The first couple of months we had to keep ringing the supervisor because we weren’t being paid. We kept ringing but there was no reply and eventually their answerphone was full up. So we rang head office in Auckland. Within a week we got a letter with a payslip and a commitment to pay within the ‘next little bit’ which they did.” (13-year-old)
“I wasn’t paid for delivering letters to power company customers – it was never resolved and mum ended up paying me for the lost pay.” (16-year-old)
“We didn’t receive a contract for a couple of months – we got worried, though we were still getting paid. We just kept on contacting them and eventually got the contract sent to us.” (12-year-old)
“Once when me and my brother were delivering, after we finished our supervisor gave us five complaints – we felt we had completed the round properly – our supervisor came over and she and dad were talking outside … nothing further happened.” (12-year-old)
“Sometimes they left the pamphlets in the rain and not under cover – it’s annoying ’cos they get wet and the ink runs. Mum raised it with the supervisor who’s now started leaving them under cover.” (12-year-old)
“My family went away for the weekend but I had to stay behind at a friend’s house to do the job even though my dad had approached the paper to explain.” (13-year-old)
“I was held responsible for stolen papers.” (13-year-old)
“I get less pay compared with a friend who does the same number of houses.” (14- year-old)
Supervision
Seven participants indicated that there was no supervision of their work by anyone, by way of ensuring either their safety or their competence. For the other
interviewees, there was a relatively equal mix between receiving some degree of oversight from parent/caregiver, or from the newspaper company or the local agent of the distributor, or from both parents and newspaper or distributor.
Notwithstanding that, where there is supervisory involvement by the newspaper or distribution company, it appears to be either relatively passive and/or reactive, being
limited often to passing on complaints from householders about missed papers. It seems that most of the responsibility for ensuring that the child workers both are safe and do their job properly falls to their parents/caregivers.
“Mum supervises the delivery but no one besides her – my supervisor drops off the papers and ensures payment but we don’t have direct interaction with him.” (13- year-old)
“My supervisor is almost always at the newspaper office and you can call her whenever you want.” (11-year-old)
“My supervisor rings up once or twice a month to make sure it’s going OK.” (12-year- old)
“Occasionally I’ll run into the supervisor who is also the contact for missed or short papers.” (14-year-old)
“Mum asks how my run was and if there were any troubles - the supervisors just drop off the pamphlets.” (12-year-old)
“The supervisor informs us of complaints – there’s also ‘monitoring’ – I have to provide the names of three householders to give feedback to the supervisor.” (12- year-old)
“Mum will check how it’s going. Sometimes we receive a note from the supervisor about missed papers … also mum has told us if she ever finds out that we’ve dumped our papers we will lose the job.” (12-year-old)
“My supervisor says they have people checking up on you – sometimes mum accompanies me.” (15-year-old)
“Dad does the round with us.” (13-year-old)
“Mum keeps an eye on us … distributor informs of complaints from householders, e.g.
missed papers.” (12-year-old)
“Supervisor would check on whether papers were delivered – sometimes mum will text to see how I’m going” (12-year-old)
“I have to ring the area representative when I’ve finished each delivery … mum keeps a general eye on me.” (14-year-old)
“I have to ring the area representative at the end of my delivery.” (11-year-old)
“Not much supervision – our parents ask if we’ve done it all.” (12-year-old)
“I carry a cell phone to stay in contact with mum.” (12-year-old)
30
Clothing and equipment
Aside from one of the daily newspapers which supplied delivery bags and paid
clothing and bike allowances, the young workers were responsible for all apparel and equipment needed to undertake the task. In practice the responsibility to provide this almost always fell on parents/caregivers.
Only two of the interviewees had obtained clothing especially for their delivery work:
one had purchased “reflectorised” strips to attach to their clothing for increased visibility and another had bought waterproof pants and shoes specifically for work purposes. The others used their own clothing and cycle helmets. One participant had been sent a company-logo shirt and baseball cap but this appears to have been after he was subjected to a dog attack (no other participants who were contracted to the same company indicated that they had received such apparel).
One of the newspapers provided the delivery bags to its runners, who themselves then had to purchase the handlebar fitting to which the bag was attached, at a cost variously reported as $40 or $50. All the other workers had to provide the means of carrying the material for delivery. Most used shoulder bags or backpacks that were at home, often their own school bags. A couple of respondents who used a car as a primary means of transporting the material would simply carry armfuls which they would replenish from the car as need be. In addition to having bags of various styles and carrying in their arms, a number of workers used carts or trundlers; one used an old pram, another occasionally a push-chair, and one a “converted golf caddy”.
Getting around
Walking (or running) proved the most common means of self-transportation, though Wellington’s hills may have been a contributing factor in this. A couple of these workers could count on parents to take them by car if it was very wet. Second equal as modes of transport were cycling, and using both car and walking: sometimes the vehicle would simply be the means of getting to the start of the run, from the
deliverers would proceed on foot; sometimes the car would move on ahead of the deliverers to one or more meeting places where they could replenish their stocks; in one case, the car would sometimes drive alongside the worker who would take armfuls of material as needed.
Help from family or friends
Assistance is often given by younger siblings of the child who holds the contract.
More often than not, these siblings receive some remuneration for their contribution.
A number of the participants would also have friends helping them with varying degrees of regularity.
Perhaps the greatest surprise to Caritas in this survey was the lower age of siblings involved in letterbox delivery work, through being informally subcontracted by an elder brother or sister. Sometimes this was work accompanying the main contractor, while at other times it was relief work.
The information given in the survey would indicate that the age of entry to the workforce through payment by siblings for leaflet delivery work is even lower than previously indicated. Some of the questions that arise out of this practice of
subcontracting younger siblings to work include where the responsibility would lie for a young child injured while working for an older sibling.
“Give a small amount to my sister [6 yrs] because she helps with the folding.” (12- year-old)
“Little brother [8 yrs], little sister [6 ¾] help with round.” [12-year-old in charge]
“One or two friends – 11 or 12 years old – don’t pay them.” (11-year-old)
“Pay brother [12] $10 a fortnight to help.” (13-year-old)
“Sister [10] helps when [I’m] away – full pay.” (14-year-old)
“Sister [8] helps with round.” (12-year-old)
“Little sister [8] helps with round – pay $2.50-$3.00.” (15-year-old)
“Dad and brothers [6 and 9] help with round.” (13-year-old)
“Sisters [9 and 5] help with round.” (12-year-old)
“Brothers [10 and 8] help with round.” (12-year-old)
“Brother and sister [9 – twins] help with round and friend [12]…If sick, siblings cover.” (12-year-old)
The involvement of young children is discussed further on page 43.
Parents/caregivers (and in particular mothers) clearly provide a strong element of support for the delivery workers. From overseeing the initial signing of the contract, to folding material while children are at school so that it’s ready for delivery, to assisting with delivery, to covering when children are sick or absent (usually without being paid), to managing the receipt of pay, and helping to resolve any issues that might arise, parents/caregivers are involved in all aspects of the young people’s delivery work.
“Mum paid for safety tape, and reflective tape and reflective sash for waist.” (13- year-old)
“Nana does round in the holidays.” (12-year-old)
32
“Mum helps with car on rainy days.” (14-year-old)
“Mum does weekday pamphlets.” (12-year-old)
“[I] give Mum $10 a month for petrol and if I get extra I pay her extra…It’s fair because she helps out by using the car.” (12-year-old)
“Mum [helps with round] and Dad sometimes.” (14-year-old)
“Mum driving us around on a Tuesday…Job organised by Mum.” (12-year-old)
Children are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. As some of the most vulnerable members of society and of families, they are entitled to special protection.
New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, 2007
Health and safety
“Have you ever had an accident at work?”
“Just a broken arm – started crying, friend got Mum who took me home, Nana gave panadol and took to hospital. Brother did round while [I]
recovered.”
13-year-old
Identifying hazards
Health and safety issues were raised by a significant number of participants. Almost all participants in the survey identified hazards, particularly traffic and dogs.
“Cars – have to cross a lot of streets – dangerous….Dogs – I’ve had weird dogs following me – felt scared. “ (13-year-old)
“Cars getting out of driveways.” (13-year-old); (14-year-old)
“Bike slow on footpath to avoid cars backing out of driveways.” (13-year-old)
”Dogs. Be aware of cars when crossing road.” (12-year-old)
“Just cars on the road – some speed down quiet streets.” (12-year-old)
“Loose dogs.” (14-year-old)
“Glass in tyres.” (13-year-old)
“Dogs, sometimes glass on ground, slippery ground, crossing roads.” (12-year-old)
“Cars coming out of driveways, dogs, slippery when wet, strangers.” (10-year-old)
“Dogs. Precariously placed letter box on side of hill – had to be careful not to slip down hill.” (12-year-old)
“Dogs, crossing roads.” (12-year-old)
“Building of new housing development, potholes.” (12-year-old)
Two workers specified that they did not feel there were any hazards connected with the work – on the contrary, that they felt it was very safe.
“I know everyone in the community, they’re really nice to me.” (14-year-old)
“Never much traffic.” (12-year-old)
Accidents and injuries
A number of interviewees recounted unsavoury canine encounters, including an episode where the worker was bitten and required medical treatment. One female interviewee mentioned an unfamiliar man who would always toot when he passed her, which made her feel very uncomfortable.
“Sometimes I have to bike on the wrong side of road.” (13-year-old)
34
“One time a boy stole a paper off me - I followed him home and called the police, who followed up. I told my family and the paper – my parents called paper who gave me a letter of apology.” (14-year-old)
“Once a dog jumped over the fence barking … I stood still – the dog went away. I told mum who said she would talk to the owners … There’s a creepy stranger who toots at me and my mum when delivering – each time I tell mum who said if he approaches to say ‘hello’ politely and keep on walking; if he toots, ignore him, don’t look up.” (12-year-old)
“… I got attacked by a dog and it wasn’t my fault. It was a pit bull – I chucked my bag at the dog to stop it attacking him and ran away – the dog bit me on the top of leg – it was bleeding and ripped my new t-shirt – I hid behind the house – a girl in the house came out to help, she went and got her cousin but they were unable to shoo off the dog – mum arrived and took me to the doctor – we rang the dog ranger and then the supervisor who also advised to ring the ranger – later we took
chocolates to the girl who had helped – the dog was later destroyed.” (12-year-old) “There’s a big dog that barks at us and it’s on a chain but on the odd occasion it’s off the chain – it’s behind a fence but there’s no gate, just an opening, so it could easily run out – one time it did so and scared my brother – sometimes mum distracts the dog while we are walking down the road – mum stops the car outside house with the dog to make sure we’re OK – we can also use our bags to defend ourselves because they’re filled with papers and we’ve also had a dog safety course at school.”
(12-year-old)
“Once I had this dog run at me – a lady had to scream at the dog to leave me alone, which it did – I told my supervisor to ask the owner to restrain the dog at the time I was going past and told my mum – my supervisor followed up with the owner which solved the problem.” (12-year-old)
“One time … we found this kid sleeping in the middle of the street. Mum was there and tried to wake him up – we waited with him until his mum returned … One time on a posh street some kids started throwing feijoas at me – I just ignored them and told mum who came and told them off.” (14-year-old)
“Only when there’s dogs wandering around – one dog jumped on me and it looked like it was going to bite me so I hit it lightly with my papers and it ran off – I continued with my round and told dad when I got home – he rang the dog control who followed up. ” (12-year-old)
A third of all participants reported accidents resulting in some degree of injury, including half of those who used bicycles as their main means of transport.
“I lost control of my bike while turning and came over and my knee landed in gravel and I scraped up my knee quite badly and I have a scar – blood was dripping onto my shoes – it was getting dark so I carried on – it was a bit stingy but I didn’t mind – I showed mum when I got home and she cleaned it up – I didn’t tell my
supervisor.” (12-year-old)
“On one occasion with the pamphlets – I had a too heavy bag, when I was turning I fell off my bike and sprained my wrist – I went home and didn’t complete my round until next day. I told mum – she told me to finish my round next day – I didn’t go to the doctor – it wasn’t that bad but it was bad at the time.” (13-year-old)
“Recently I was biking … I realised I had missed a paper. I turned round too tightly and came off my bike – I have a scab and bruising on my right knee, and grazing on the outside of my left knee – I called mum and she came with some plasters and she helped me the rest of the way around my run – I also told friends but I didn’t tell my supervisor at the paper.” (11-year-old)
“I fell in the ditch when I was new to the job and struggling to control my bike. My friend was with me. I wasn’t hurt much – I got up and carried on – I told my parents.” (14-year-old)
“I just tripped over - that’s about it. I picked myself up and went along – a lady across the street helped me out and gave me some encouragement and I told my mum.” (13-year-old)
“My little brother was controlling the trundler and ran it into the back of my leg – it made me limp for a while and Dad saw what happened – it wasn’t serious, but I haven’t let my brother use the trundler since.” (13-year-old)
“I fell over once – I tripped over and popped my knee out of joint. I popped it back in and continued with my round. It was a little bit sore. I told mum who checked my leg, it seemed to be fine. I told my supervisor – I was offered a day off to recover so I took the day off.” (12-year-old)
“I fell over once – it happened near the end of my run. I was walking downhill and was wearing my bag on my front – it was very heavy with leftover material – I was pulled over by weight and got a cut knee – I told mum and went home and bandaged it up.” (12-year-old)
“Work causes an old knee injury to flare up.” (12-year-old)
“I’ve hurt my ankle a few times, rolling it – I told mum who said to put it on ice, which I did.” (12-year-old)
Working after dark
Some workers commented that they had been advised not to work after dark, but that this was not always possible to achieve.
“Papers have to be delivered on Thursday, so if they’re dropped off late on Thursday we have to go really fast or work in the dark … in this case mum might come along, though this hasn’t happened very often.” (12-year-old)
“Sometimes we cannot finish deliveries before it gets dark, so finish off in the dark.”
(13-year-old)
“Having to deliver at night if you don’t do them in daytime.” (15-year-old)
Health and safety information provided by employers
Most workers had received some degree of information or advice relating to health and safety. This information is usually included in the contracts or introductory booklets provided by employers/distribution companies. The information varies greatly in its comprehensiveness, often being limited to a couple of cursory paragraphs.
One of the daily newspapers does not allow deliverers to work if they arrive without bicycle helmets, and provides employees with an 18-page “Delivery Job Procedure Booklet”, the last 14 pages of which relate to health and safety.
