Centre for Future Work

The use of Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in workplace sexual harassment cases is again in the headlines. In today's article in The Conversation (https://lnkd.in/gMnPTH63) the Centre for Future Work's Lisa Heap and David Peetz set out the reforms necessary to create greater transparency, focus more on prevention, and place victims-survivors in the drivers seat when it comes to if, and when, NDAs are used. For more detail see the CFW submission to the Victorian consultation on restricting NDAs in workplace sexual harassment cases https://lnkd.in/gNsXexHd

Did you know? This year marks the sixteenth annual Go Home on Time Day (GHOTD), an initiative of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute. A new report from Centre for Future Work Acting Director Fiona Macdonald, released today to mark GHOTD, shows that despite new Right to Disconnect laws coming into force earlier this year, Australians are still working an average five weeks’ unpaid overtime each year. The good news? The trend is down so maybe the new laws are starting to have some effect. Key findings in the report are: · The average worker performs 3.6 hours unpaid overtime each week. Full-time employees average 4.1 hours a week. · Workers aged 18 to 29 do most unpaid overtime, average 4.4 hours per week. · A staggering 70% of people who work unpaid overtime say their bosses expect them to work extra hours. · 42% of workers say the extra hours make them physically tired, while 32% say they’re stressed or anxious. 29% say the unpaid overtime interferes with their personal life or relationship. More than 1 in 5 say it leaves them sleep-deprived. The most common reasons for working extra hours are too much work (41%) and staff shortages (31%). The full report is available at https://lnkd.in/gJvQCFa2

Has regulation gone far enough to prevent gender based harassment @ work? Centre for Future Work Senior Researcher Lisa Heap says no. This is because current regulatory approaches place too much focus on behaviour and culture at work and not enough on the systemic and structural components that create the conditions of work in which violence flourishes. Lisa presented her research to the Australian Education Union Federal Women’s Conference as part of a panel on organising and using industrial laws to win transformative change at work with Sarah Petratos, caterina C. and Nareen Young.

Will the use of artificial intelligence produce a Brave New World of Work? Much has been said about the pros and cons of the use of artificial intelligence in the context of work. Our latest webinar investigates the impact of AI on workers and their rights. Join those who are at the forefront of negotiating the parameters of the use of AI at work Rebecca Fawcett (CPSU) and Nicole McPherson (FSU) along with CFW policy expert Fiona Macdonald for this important discussion. Registrations is free but essential: https://lnkd.in/giR4a8Aj. 

Doing it Tough: How Australians are experiencing the cost of living crisis https://lnkd.in/gNv_38Qq. Our latest polling research has gone viral with the report, and Centre for Future Work Senior Researcher Lisa Heap, being quoted in today's British Financial Times. The results of the poll indicate some 83% of those polled said supermarkets deserve at least some blame for soaring cost of living. That puts them ahead of energy companies (82%), banks (73%) and government (71%). Three in five (60%) of respondents nominated groceries as the most noticed cost increase, far ahead of the next highest result of utilities at 21%. There is a strong appetite among voters to increase supermarket competition, with almost two-thirds (64%) saying action in that area is very important to reducing cost-of-living pressures. That result was mirrored for actions leading to lower utility costs (64%) ahead of lower medical costs (60%) and faster wage growth (58%).  The polling results and other research presented at our recent Living Standards Symposium also highlighted that increases in the cost of living crisis had differential impacts affecting lower-income Australians most severely, thus exacerbating inequality.

Have you registered for the 2024 Laurie Carmichael Lecture 5 September 2024? This year's Lecture features Professor Allan Fels AO, former Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Chair of the recent ACTU-commissioned Inquiry into Price Gouging and Unfair Business Practices, in conversation with ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. Professor Fels will be speaking on the topic: “Power, Profits and Price-Gouging”. The biggest concern of Australians is the cost of living. This has two components: the incomes that people receive and the prices they pay. Little attention is paid to how business pricing affects the cost of living. In this lecture Professor Fels demonstrates that business pricing has contributed to inflation and has kept prices higher than they should be. He recommends a stronger prices policy, and a more effective competition policy including divestiture: the power to break up big business where it acts anticompetitively. Registration is essential. To register go to https://lnkd.in/euvZFN79

Workers shouldn't have to choose between a blood test and a job. The latest report from the Centre for Future Work explores the gaps in privacy and workplace relations laws that companies are exploiting to collect workers' sensitive information. The report calls for reforms that restrict what information organisations can collect, require organisations to make a case for why this sensitive information is necessary before collecting it, and regulate how the information can be used. It also calls for greater worker involvement in decision making about when and how their sensitive information can be collected and used: https://lnkd.in/gEuqpcep

Have your registered for our next Webinar: Stop passing the buck -Workers’ compensation and ‘gig’ workers? It's on this Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 12:30 pm AEST. Register at https://lnkd.in/g52y8j3n

Workplace Delegates News laws regarding the rights of workplace delegates came into effect on 1 July 2024. In a new report the Centre for Future Work's Professor Emeritus David Peetz, explores what this will mean for workplace co-operation. In this latest research David concludes the new regime of workplace delegates’ rights is very likely, overall, to increase the voice of employees, and thereby have positive consequences, over the long run, for pay and conditions, union membership, workplace cooperation, grievance resolution and productivity. However, he also argues the effects of new rights for paid union training leave depend very much on union responses, in particular on their subsequent reliance on classroom versus informal training and the ‘follow up’ of classroom education. You can find the report on our website https://lnkd.in/g6nPSeaz

Our latest submission explores key questions arising from the digitisation of work. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we work and the jobs we do. While AI innovations can have positive benefits in workplaces, including through productivity gains, they also carry significant risks for workers and for job quality. AI applications can be designed and used to augment workers’ capacity and free up time for more meaningful or creative work. Or they can be designed and used in ways that intensify work and displace workers. Even when designed for benevolent purposes, unintended consequences can arise from the adoption of AI at work. Consequences include serious breaches of privacy, bias and discrimination in recruitment and hiring, and unfair decision-making in performance measurement and evaluation. The Centre for Future Work submission to the Inquiry on the Digital Transformation of Workplaces argues that the promotion of AI innovation must not overshadow objectives and principles for decent jobs and fairness at work. The Submission sets out principles for new laws to regulate the uses of AI in workplaces with a goal of protecting workers. Check out our submission on the Centre's website https://lnkd.in/gNpMnYUr