New Standards for New Times?

By Cathy Brigden and Iain Campbell (editors)

A selection of papers presented at the "New Standards for New Times? the eight hour day and beyond" conference run by the Centre for Applied Social Research (CASR), RMIT University in June 2006.

Steffen Lehndorff presented a paper on Flexibility and Control: new challenges for working-time policy in the European Union where there is an overview of trends in the EU and the challenges for trade unions in the working time policies of the Union. The problems for unions in maintaining organisational strength across the EU are also canvassed. Lehndorff then looks at the interaction of workplace policies and the welfare state, which provides a form of regulation of "working time" regulation particularly for women.

Deidre McCann examines the notion that workers should be free to refuse overtime, in the context of the increase in legal mechanisms impacting directly on specific workplace arrangements (as opposed to broader, more general regulation). McCann refers to the need and right of workers to "temporal autonomy". The rise of overtime (often unpaid) has generated increasing unpredictable working hours and traditional modes of regulation are unable to to respond to this problem.

Other papers include Leah F Vosko on precarious part-time work in Australia and in transnational labour regulation and the gendered limits of the standard employment relationship basis of regulation.

Brigid van Wanrooy looks the desire of Australians for a standard 9-5 work day. This has been disappearing over the past two decades. She considers the results form the Negotiating the Lifecourse survey on current and preferred working hours. The survey indicates that those working longer hours do not want to.

Marian Baird and Sara Charlesworth discuss a qualitative study of working time arrangements after maternity leave. They draw on results of research in two large Australian organisations and explore the factors that limit the 'practical availability' of part-time work arrangements on return from maternity leave. Both organisations are male-dominated and any specific interest female employees have in work-family benefits sit outside dominant workplace norms and a long working hours culture.

Jenny Whittard and John Burgess also consider the dominant workplace cultures of full time and extended hours in their look at the issue of working time flexibility in a retail banking environment. The "normal" working week has expanded at the same time as the demand for flexibility in hours from employees (more full time women) has developed. Many flexible arrangement have been informal and have been up to line managers but as full time employment has increased (with banks moving away from casuals) these informal arrangements are in need of codifying across an organisation.

(Labour & Industry. vol. 17, no. 3, April 2007