Just before we learned that the Coalition, should it win the next election, will wind back workers’ rights, the union movement celebrated the 77th anniversary of winning the right to a weekend.
Prior to 1947, many workers were compelled to work as much as twelve hours a day, six days a week. On September 8, 1947, following years of sustained union campaigning, the Commonwealth Arbitration Court ruled in favour of a forty-hour, five-day working week.
The union campaign for the right to a weekend was opposed by business groups and conservative politicians at the time, who argued it would negatively impact businesses and the economy.
In 1947, the President of the Chamber of Manufacturers, Cecil N. McKay, commented:
“Australia is committed to an unnecessary and dangerous experiment in the midst of an inflationary period, and it is to be hoped that the burden will not fall too heavily upon those whom it was intended to benefit”
Unions currently face the same arguments, almost word-for-word, from employer groups about the modern work-life balance and the right to disconnect. It is also (probably) what the Vizier told Ramesses III when artisans went on strike in the Valley of the Kings in 1158 BC.
Read more: ACTU Media release