October 2004

ACTU seeks better balance

While acting in the Federal Industrial Officer role, I attended the first day of hearings in the ACTU Work and Family Test Case held in Melbourne in early September.

This case is about enabling workers to negotiate more flexible work arrangements, allowing them to balance work and family commitments.
If the case is successful, up to 4.5 million working Australians who have caring responsibilities will benefit.

Through this case, the ACTU is seeking:

• the choice for parents to take unpaid leave from work for up to two years following the birth of a child;
• the option for full-time employees to return from parental leave to work on a part-time basis until their child is at school;
• the ability for employees to 'buy' through salary sacrificing, up to six weeks a year additional annual leave that could be used to cover school holidays; and
• flexible start and finish times so parents and carers can pick up or deliver children to school or childcare.

This test case is about ensuring the awards - that are seen as the safety net for workers - keep pace with changes to the workplace and society.
Other than through yearly adjustments to wage rates, the safety net has not been modified or changed for some time. The ACTU is arguing it must be updated to ensure it is fair in the context of today's economy and living standards, and can adequately protect the needs of people who are on low incomes and have less capacity to successfully negotiate enterprise agreements.

It also needs to reflect changes in the labour force. Over the last 20 years, women's participation in the labour force, including women with children or other dependents, has increased significantly, and the way families and households are organised has also changed.

It is now imperative to give greater consideration to the balance between work and family, and act by putting mechanisms in place which allow workers to do this.

Speaking before the opening of the case, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said: 'The Work and Family Test Case is an historic opportunity to bring our workplaces into line with the needs of Australian families in the 21st century.

 

The conflict between work and family life is putting millions of families under enormous strain and it is now time to solve this major social problem.'

Key evidence to be presented by the ACTU shows Australia is ranked 13 out of 14 OECD nations in the balance of work and family. The current entitlement of one-year unpaid parental leave is insufficient, as 60% of mothers do not return to work within this time. The right to work part-time until children are at school is essential, with research showing most mothers working full-time (60%) would prefer part-time work, and the current mismatch between school or childcare and work hours and leave entitlements is creating significant gaps in care for children.

While the major employer groups including ACCI (Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and the Howard Government are opposing these proposals, the ACTU argues the proposals will have little or no long-term impact on business costs.

Over the long term, business will gain increased productivity from greater employee loyalty and experience, and this will outweigh the short-term costs of replacement and/or training.

Making workplaces more flexible for their employees is crucial to helping people relieve the pressure of balancing work and family.

As Barbara Pocock says in her book The Work/Life Collision: '...there is a strong argument for action to provide better options that support the reality that will confront most of the current and next generation of Australians: how to - over the life-cycle - combine paid work with care of oneself, one's loved ones and dependents, nested in an enabling community, and to make better lives.'

The ACTU Work and Family Test Case is an attempt to restore some balance by giving individual workers the right to negotiate for conditions that enable them to combine more satisfactorily their work and family lives.


Kris Edwards
Acting ANF Federal Industrial Officer