Fed: Too much work and not enough play for Aussie workers

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2001
Fed: Too much work and not enough play for Aussie workers

By Jane Williams, Industrial Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Aug 30 AAP - When Australian builders won the eight-hour-day in the 1850s
it was a world first for workers and led a universal trend to reduce work hours.

One hundred and fifty five years on, the tide has changed and Australians have the
dubious honour of working the second longest hours in the industrialised world.

Only Koreans work harder.

But while Korea, like most Asian nations, is following the European trend to reduce
work hours further, Australia leads the English-speaking world in an about-face, with
workers spending more hours a day at work.

"The image of Australians as laid-back people who like a drink, watch sport and go
to the beach is no longer the case," ACTU assistant secretary Richard Marles said.

"Between 1830 and 1975, work hours declined across the industrialised world.

"Then in the mid-1970s and early 1980s there was a shift.

"Central Europe continued to cut hours but the English-speaking world appeared to bounce
back and hours started to increase.

"Australia is going backwards in terms of hours worked, we've passed Japan and we're
about to pass Korea," he said.

European labour expert Professor Gerhard Bosch has linked the shift to deregulation
of the labour market.

Deregulation increased income inequality, forcing workers in the United States, the
United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia to work longer hours to maintain their standard
of living, Professor Bosch told AAP this week.

But Australian employers reject this theory.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry industrial manager Reg Hamilton said long
work days were limited to certain categories, including managers, professionals, self-employed
tradespeople, and to some extent workers in the mining and transport industries.

"These are all well-paid, well-sought after jobs," Mr Hamilton said.

"People work long hours for a reason, whether it's monetary, for their career, or for
personal satisfaction."

Europeans have a different attitude, according to Professor Bosch, reducing hours for
social and economic reasons.

In most cases the push for working time reduction across Europe has been linked to
the need to create new jobs.

"In some countries like Denmark where there is low unemployment, other questions are
important, like improving the quality of life and the quality of gender equality in the
labour market.

"The shorter hours allow more women to work full time instead of part time," he said.

France has taken the most radical step. With the support of government legislation,
it is in the process of introducing a 35-hour week.

At first glance Australia's standard working hours are relatively low.

Most workers are hired on a 38-hour week.

But overtime is skyrocketing.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 1997 show that just one third of all workers
worked the standard hours and 31 per cent of full-time workers were working more than
48 hours a week.

Snapshots taken by the ACTU show long hours are worked by people in trades, transport
workers, and by both managerial and non-managerial office staff.

ACTU studies show finance sector workers work more unpaid overtime than those in any
other sector.

"There is definitely a psych out there, where people feel to prove themselves and to
be more productive they have to work harder," Mr Marles said.

"This is not necessarily the case.

"Australia is ranked as a solid, middling developed country.

"We're unexceptional in that way. The area where we are becoming exceptional is the
long work hours.

"Europeans come over here and can't believe the hours (workers) put in.

"It's not making us more productive but it is hurting socially. It's hurting our families
and our children.

"We're becoming obsessed by work."

The ACTU will be running a reasonable hours test case before the Australian Industrial
Relations Commission (AIRC) later this year.

AAP jmw/clr/wjf/sb

KEYWORD: HOURS (BACKGROUNDER)

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