Issue No 116 | 19 October 2001 | |
NewsLong Hours Ranks Swell
A 76 per cent increase in the number of Australians working more than 45 hours a week has swelled the ranks of people working long hours to 2.4 million. The new report, by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT) at the University of Sydney, has found that the standard working week is rapidly being displaced by extended and often extreme hours. The study is part of evidence for the ACTU's Test Case on reasonable working hours before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission next month. Key findings are: � In 2000, 2.4 million people were working extended hours. Of these 1.6 million were working more than 50 hours per week � Between 1981 and 2000, there was a 76% increase in the number of people working more than 45 hours each week � The largest increase of 94% was among those working 50 to 59 hours per week � While the number of people working standard hours rose by 2%, the number of Australians working long hours (more than 45 hours per week) rose by 76% � The majority of those working long hours are non-managers ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the study confirmed the findings of other recent research that revealed a growing crisis in excessive working hours. "There is an explosion of overwork in Australia. The effects are being felt in every way - an increase in family friction, a decrease in parenting time, and a rise in alcohol and cigarette consumption. The flow-on effect for many people is heart disease, a decrease in fertility, and mental illness," said Ms Burrow. "The world is starting to know us as a nation struggling to balance our working lives. Other countries in Europe have acted to counter these trends, and so must we." Recent research for the ACTU by Iain Campbell from RMIT found that Australians work the second longest hours in the developed world, with a growing number of employees working unpaid overtime. The report, Working Time Arrangements in Australia: A Statistical Overview, is on the ACTU website: http://www.actu.asn.au
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Interview: The Green Machine Nick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest Day Australia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: Fightback Labor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die? Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American Terror Incredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term Looms The global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: Flashbacks Cultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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