4-day weeks will deliver ‘improved productivity’, says ACTU

At next week’s Economic Reform Roundtable, the peak union body will push for shorter working hours with no loss in pay, including a four-day work week, arguing that all Australians should benefit from higher productivity – “not just those with money and power”.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) will argue, at next week’s Economic Reform Roundtable, that Australian workers be able to move towards a four-day work week where appropriate, and use sector-specific alternatives where it is not.

Under the ACTU’s proposal, 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. Sector-specific models for reducing working hours include adding more rostered days off, the ACTU said in a statement, increasing annual leave, and redesigning rosters to provide increased predictability, security, and work/life balance.

The union body cited experimental four-day week trials, both domestically and abroad, as well as a 2023 Swinburne University study, showing that shorter working hours resulted in higher productivity in most of those trialling the option.

Further to this, Australia’s slow productivity growth “is the result of a lack of investment by businesses in capital, research, and people”, the ACTU said.

In its research paper, Productivity before and after COVID-19, the Productivity Commission noted that Australians have been working record-long hours, contributing to a slowdown in productivity, and that those additional hours have not been matched by business investment that would allow people to work more efficiently.

Speaking about the push, ACTU president Michele O’Neil said that shorter working hours “deliver improved productivity and allow working people to live happier, healthier, and more balanced lives”.

“Unions want all Australians to benefit from higher productivity – not just those with money and power,” she said.

“Productivity growth does not automatically translate to higher living standards. If that were the case over the past 25 years, the average worker today would be around $350 a week better off.”

She added: “For workers in some sectors, shorter working hours can be delivered through moving to a four-day work week. For other people, this could be achieved through other ways, such as more time off or fairer rosters.”

“A fair go in the age of AI should be about lifting everyone’s living standards instead of just boosting corporate profits and executive bonuses.”

The Australian Greens welcomed the ACTU’s push, with Senator Barbara Pocock saying: “In recent decades, the profit share of GDP has risen while workers’ share has shrunk. Workers are fed up and burnt out. They’ve done unpaid overtime, suffered real wage cuts, and face an expectation of constant connection with their workplace. It’s time for the workers to get their fair share.

“We know that four-day working weeks for the same pay, actually work.

“Various trials both here in Australia and internationally have shown this to be true. Four-day working weeks boost the health and happiness of workers while allowing the productivity of businesses to soar. It’s a win for workers and a win for workplaces. The government must put the four-day working week on the Productivity Roundtable agenda.”

She added: “Australia has made big gains in flexible working hours, working from home, and disconnecting from our jobs after hours. The obvious next step is a four-day working week.

“Our society is changing, more women and carers are at work, yet we are constrained by archaic labour laws that see the fruits of our efforts swallowed up in profits for bosses and shareholders. This is about justice for working people. We work to live, not live to work.”