THE AGE http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990903/news/news2.html September 3, 1999 Alarm at rise in unpaid hours By ANDREA CARSON WORKPLACE REPORTER Australian employees are working longer and harder, but not necessarily for extra money, a national survey has found. The survey reveals that while most employees are working more than 40 hours a week, more than half of them are not being paid overtime. The survey was commissioned by the ACTU in support of a campaign against what it says is a growing divide between two classes of employees: the overworked and the underworked. About 7000 employees from 100 industries took part in the four-month study earlier this year, which asked about working hours, feelings of job security, workplace changes and other work concerns. The survey identified two broad categories of workers: those working too many hours without overtime pay, and those with insecure employment who were looking for more paid hours. Fifty-five per cent of respondents worked more than 40 hours a week, and 12 per cent worked more than 50 hours a week. Of those who worked overtime, only 29 per cent were paid for it. One in three permanent workers said they would like to work fewer hours to spend more time with their families and enjoy sport and social activities. In the past year, 65 per cent of surveyed employees reported a rise in the amount of work they were expected to perform. The majority, 59 per cent, said they felt more stressed at work. And one in three workers said they felt less secure about their jobs than a year ago. The ACTU's assistant secretary, Mr Greg Combet, said the survey showed more people were working unreasonable hours and the amount of work an employee was expected to do was increasing. ``It's a tough environment out there in the workplace for many, many people,'' he said. ``We need to be very active and make sure we get better bargaining outcomes (with employers).'' When asked if employees felt their work arrangements harmed their health, 49 per cent said ``yes''. And one in four people believed their ``unreasonable'' working hours had led to a workplace accident or near miss. ``The incidence of health effects and longer working hours is obviously a very significant worry,'' Mr Combet said. The employees who took part in the study were from five main sectors: education, manufacturing, federal public service, finance, and clerical administration. Education sector employees reported working the most unpaid overtime, with 22 per cent saying they worked an average of 10 to 15 unpaid hours a week. At yesterday's launch of the survey results, a 25-year-old high school teacher, Ms Julie Byrne, spoke of the pitfalls of unpaid overtime, with little job security. For three years she worked as a contract teacher at Lilydale, and has recently been appointed to a permanent position teaching drama and English. ``When you are on a contract you can't really start a career because it is term to term, class to class work,'' she said. ``You can't plan your life because you can't get a loan, you feel insecure and you feel like you have no ownership of your career.'' Ms Byrne said some of her teacher friends had left the profession because they could not get full-time work. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
