Australia’s main union group says the steady flow of work emails, calls and messages into people’s personal time has made the case stronger for a shorter working week.
It is urging the Albanese government to give workers the right to ask for a four day week and to cut the maximum working week from 38 hours to 35.
The push is being made through the federal review of the National Employment Standards which a House of Representatives committee started after a referral from Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is also calling for wider changes to minimum workplace rules.
These include lifting annual leave from four weeks to five for full time workers and from five weeks to six for regular shift workers, raising casual loading and improving redundancy rights for long serving staff.
The union says these changes are needed because Australians are still doing large amounts of unpaid work outside normal hours.
In a media release last week, Australian workers do an average of 4.5 weeks of unpaid overtime each year while workers aged 18 to 24 do 6.4 weeks. It said giving workers more leave or shorter hours would give back some of that lost time and help reduce stress and burnout.
The case comes alongside Australia’s right to disconnect laws which have applied to most national system employees since 26 August 2024 and to small business employees since 26 August 2025.
In August last year, it called for Australia to move towards a four day work week where it suits a sector while using other models such as extra leave or different rosters where it does not. It said pay and conditions should be protected so workers do not lose income by working fewer hours.
Business groups have pushed back, warning the latest package would add to labour costs and make Australia’s productivity problem worse.
Recent reports said the government would consider the recommendations from the inquiry while also pointing to laws already in place that allow flexible working arrangements that means the four day week remains part of a wider industrial debate rather than an agreed government plan.
