Calls for 4-day working week labelled ‘madness’

Trade unions and business sector clash at international conference

CALLS for a four-day working week was labelled ‘absolute madness’ yesterday by a business association – as trade unions suggest workers should be given a longer weekend. Fórsa joined other trade unions in a call for a four-day working week to give workers more free time because technology has increased productivity.

The unions accused businesses of only giving benefits to the ‘global elite’ during an international conference on the future of working time in Dublin yesterday.

John Barry, a member of the Irish Small to Medium Enterprise Association national council said: ‘To have a four-day week but not reduce pay will put the rate of pay up 20%.

‘No company can afford that, and the State definitely cannot afford that. It is absolute madness. They should be focusing on the service they deliver. If they say they can work in four days they should not be working five.’

Fórsa deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan told the conference reducing working time was again a central issue.

He said: ‘We know that technology has the potential to take a lot of the drudgery and danger out of current workplace tasks, while increasing prosperity and creating many jobs.

‘But we are determined to secure a fairer share of the benefits of economic growth and technological advances for all workers in sectors of the economy, including through reduced working time.’

But the ISME’s John Barry disagreed with the suggestion that all workers could benefit from a fourday week.

He said: ‘They should look at improving service. A four-day week is a wonderful idea, but it depends on the business you are in.

‘A four-day working week in a restaurant does not make sense. Hospitals need a seven-day service so it depends on the business you are in. In the summer a company gave workers a four-day week, but they were a commercial organisation and could deliver it.

‘At a production company you cannot because you would have to work more. It is industry specific. If they say we should work a four-day week they should improve productivity by 20%.

‘The Government are trying to make it family-friendly by reducing the working week, but noone wants to look at this commercially.’

Nearly 90 years since economist John Maynard Keynes predicted increased productivity would lead to a 15-hour working week, trade unions want to reduce the week from 40 hours to closer to 30.

Mr Callinan added: ‘By producing more with less, our needs would be met through less work and there would be more time for leisure.

‘Even Keynes could scarcely have conceived of the gains in productivity since he made his prediction. And yet the length of the working week has remained more or less the same.’

Fórsa suggested most of the benefits of this increase in productivity went to a small ‘global elite’ instead of working people.

The conference, organised by Fórsa, saw trade unionists and working-time experts from Ireland, Germany and the UK respond to a large number of motions about working time submitted to Fórsa’s national conference last May.

An executive motion committed the union to work with others to reduce working time in all sectors of the economy.

‘Benefits are going to global elite’