Australian Services Union calls for 4-day work week

A shorter working week, “roster justice”, and safeguards against work intensification all form part of the ASU’s submission to a House of Representatives inquiry.

The Australian Services Union (ASU) has argued to the standing committee on employment, workplace relations, skills and training, which is conducting an inquiry into the operation and adequacy of the National Standards under the Fair Work Act, for a “fundamental reset” to protect workers’ time.

In its submission, ASU national secretary Emeline Gaske said: “With increasing work and care responsibilities, soaring cost of living and ever-expanding demands on workers’ time, we need to make sure that we have modern standards that give workers the flexibility to manage their increasingly busy lives.”

While this is the first time since the Fair Work Act (2009) that Australian work hours have been under such scrutiny, it comes on the back of Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Michele O’Neil calling for a shorter work week in August 2025 ahead of the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable.

Key to this proposal was no loss of pay.

The ASU cited similar reasons to O’Neil for this adjustment, citing the need to fundamentally reset and modernise Australian workplace laws to protect workers’ time.

A central part of the ASU’s submission was the introduction of a framework protecting workers as professional AI adoption increases, including paid notice of at least six months if a job is to be replaced by artificial intelligence. The current standards, it claimed, are insufficient and not adapted to the digital economy; last year, O’Neil argued that workers deserve to benefit from productivity gains and technological advances.

Gaske said: “Work has become increasingly complex, and Australian workers are working longer and longer hours. There are so many new pressures on workers, and it’s time for the next evolution in workplace design.”

“We are calling for a suite of reforms to modernise the NES, a four-day work week, roster justice and guards against work intensification.”

The statement highlighted how millions of workers are currently subjected to unpredictable shift patterns, and demanded a new national standard, including at least two weeks’ notice for shift rostering.

“You cannot arrange childcare, healthcare, or a life outside of work if you only find out your shifts the night before,” Gaske said.

“Roster justice is about dignity and giving workers the ability to plan their lives.”

Recent union submissions trended in the same vein, with collective union demands including an increase to annual leave from four weeks to five weeks, and an introduction of 10 days of paid reproductive health leave.

According to the ACTU, “the average Australian would need to see their real wage increase by 10 per cent to make up the difference between productivity improvements and real wage growth since 2000”.

“Extra leave will (also) start to address the productivity gap that workers face,” it said.

In the ACTU submission in August last year, O’Neil said: “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.”