Central Safety Group Melbourne

A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time

Kevin Jones has alerted us to an upcoming event on September 16: From the Eight-Hour Day to the Four-Day Week: Book Launch and Discussion

Join union leaders and historian Sean Scalmer in discussion of his new book, A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time (Melbourne University Press).

Time and Place: 6pm, Tuesday 16 September, Solidarity Hall, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton.

To be launched by Michele O'Neil, President ACTU. In conversation with: Imogen Sturni, Branch Secretary, Victorian Branch Secretary, ASU Private Sector Branch & Madeleine Harradence, State Secretary, ANMF Victorian Branch

This is a free event -book your spot through this Eventbrite link

The MUP website describes the book as a revealing look at the contemporary crisis of work-life imbalance.

The length of the working day and the challenges of work-life balance are pressing issues for many Australians, as well as lively matters of public controversy. While the winning of the eight-hour day is celebrated as a past industrial achievement, contemporary discussions of working hours often overlook its rich history.

Tracing 150 years of campaigns for rights and for the fair distribution of productivity gains, historian Sean Scalmer shows how these movements successfully reduced the length of the standard working week from 60 to 38 hours per week, and how economic, social and political shifts since the early 1980s have stalled this long-term progress. Today, industrial laws provide inadequate protection for excessive hours, and Australian women increasingly shoulder long hours of paid work with the bulk of unpaid domestic labour.

As debate over our working lives intensifies amid ongoing political, economic and technological challenges, Scalmer's labour of love on the history of work and play affords us a way to understand the past so we can win back our time collectively.

Sean Scalmer is a professor of history at the University of Melbourne and a fellow of the Academy of Social Science in Australia. He researches the history of social movements and democracy, considering both the national history of Australia and trans-national and comparative histories.

Here Comes the Sun

Date & Time: Tuesday 12 November 2024, noon

CSG Hybrid Lunchtime Presentation - via zoom or in the room

Speaker: Dominic Melling, OHS Unit Coordinator, Victorian Trades Hall Council & Shannon Jones, Programs and Priority Populations Manager, SunSmart, Cancer Council Victoria

Topic: Here comes the sun

Summer brings with it increased risk of skin cancer, heat exhaustion and heat stroke in the workplace.
This session will raise awareness of risks from exposure to heat, and discuss the roles and requirements of employers and employees in dealing with these.
General dangers from working in high temperatures, both indoors and outdoors, will be discussed by Dominic Melling, OHS Unit Coordinator at Victorian Trades Hall Council.....Read more

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 11 November 2024.  When booking, please ensure you select the November Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

RSVP Here

COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective

This was a very informative session that consolidated many of the issues we learned about throughout the last 18 months that affect vulnerable workers. Dominic highlighted a number of areas where the essential workforce was exposed to risks. In particular, he spoke about aged care, the quarantine frontline, supply chain and meatworks. In the case of the latter, while WorkSafe acted quickly to produce guidance, some of it was not practical and needed to be modified.

Dominic and his team have developed an extensive program to assist Health & Safety Representatives (HSRs) and workers, with resources that are readily available via two of their websites: www.covidsafeworkplace.org and www.ohsrep.org.au. Resources include checklists for auditing and free 2-hour training sesssions.

Dominic also spoke about those who worked from home and how the rush to implement this new way of working has resulted in its own challenges. In our December 2020 presentation by David Caple, he went into this issue in greater detail and you can access it here (log in first)

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