Australian employers could be facing a serious movement from trade unions calling for a four-day work week.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) announced early on Wednesday that members will propose Australia move to the structure where appropriate.
For those sectors where it is not possible, the council suggested the use of specific alternatives.
Pay and conditions, including penalty rates, overtime and minimum staffing levels, would be protected to ensure a reduced work week doesn’t result in a loss of pay.
The proposal is due to be taken to next week’s Economic Reform Roundtable.
ACTU said it would argue workers deserve to benefit from productivity gains and technological advances, and reducing working hours is key to lifting living standards.
‘Shorter working hours are good for both workers and employers,’ ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.
‘They deliver improved productivity and allow working people to live happier, healthier and more balanced lives.’
The contentious four-day working week proposal is due to be debated at the Albanese government’s Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra next week
‘Unions want all Australians to benefit from higher productivity – not just those with money and power.’
The Albanese government has previously not ruled out the possibility of a four-day work week.
Major business groups have already submitted their proposals to the roundtable run by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, advocating for a corporate tax cut as a means to revive faltering productivity.
Speaking about the upcoming productivity roundtable, Mr Albanese said he wanted businesses, unions and civil society to put forward practical measures that have ‘as broad a support as possible’.
‘If you had a choice between, do you have less things with more support, or more things with less broad support, then I’m in favour of the former,’ Albanese said.
‘The danger in something like that is you just have a list (of things) that aren’t progressed.’
Chalmers will convene the three-day roundtable from August 19 in Canberra, along with representatives from businesses, unions and community organisations.
Representatives from the Australian Council of Trade Unions have received four of 24 invitations to the upcoming economic reform roundtable.
Australian Council of Trade Unions, run by Sally McManus (pictured), claimed on Wednesday that shorter work hours benefit staff and employers
The roundtable will also include delegates from the Business Council, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Industry Group, among others.
France introduced a four-day week in 2000 but there are concerns a similar policy in Australia could worsen the nation’s productivity crisis.
Bad productivity from weaker output means costs are often passed on to consumers, leading to higher prices and inflationary pressures.
On Tuesday, the The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its long-term outlook for productivity growth.
‘The staff’s forecast for output growth continued to assume that annual productivity growth would pick up, despite no rise in productivity since 2016,’ the minutes said.
‘Members noted that this assumption materially influences the medium-term outlook for growth in the economy’s supply capacity, incomes and demand.’
In defense of the four-day working week policy, ACTU quoted analysis by Dr Jim Stanford from the Centre for Future Work which highlighted the ‘gap between productivity growth and wage growth’.
‘If real wages had grown at the same rate as productivity since 2000, average wages would be around 18 per cent higher – or about $350 per week – than they are today,’ the council of unions said.
It also argued trials in Australia and overseas showed well-planned four-day week structures, that involved workers in the design, could deliver productivity benefits.
