The weekend is such a strong cultural monument that if it were removed, the void left would delete innumerable songs, stories, artworks, jokes, elements of language – and good old industrial relations. The weekend is so embedded in our lives, it has an emotional mood we all share. The week seems to get brighter and lighter as it nears the two sacred days. But this phenomenon is a result of the first world, and particularly the unionised first world.

Commentator Francis Leach’s guest on the podcast is political historian Dr Liam Byrne. Dr Byrne explains that pre-1940s, workers had to work at least a half-day on Saturday, and were given Sunday off, though there was little to do, as everything was shut.

Yet when unions began agitating for a weekend, employers pushed back hard, calling the concept a “an unnecessary and dangerous experiment” and warning of a complete financial collapse.

The fight for a 40-hour week, which included two days off, had begun in the 1930s, but World War II put many industrial relations issues on hold.
It was a John Curtin Labor Government promise that if elected, he would implement the 40-hour week.

Mr Curtin passed away before he could legislate the weekend; however, the Ben Chifley Government, after substantial pressure from unions, including strikes, eventually relented in 1947.

An interesting element of the case once the fight was taken to arbitration, was that employer groups called the concept of a weekend an emotional and philosophical argument, not an economic or industrial one. And although it was meant as a jibe, the weekend is emotional and philosophical. It is about workers being human, and not machines. It is about having time to have emotions, and to be philosophical. Things humans essentially need to be.

The fight for the weekend – and winning the weekend – is a great representation what unions do. Unions, with their members, continually fight for greater common good. It would be extremely difficult to argue that the weekend has turned out to be a bad thing for society. Its goodness far outweighs any economical disadvantages, real or imagined. Anti-union pundits pour disparaging remarks about the work unions do – focussing mainly on individual issues which, out of context, can make unions out to be petty and out-of-touch. But it’s the big issues, that tend to be taken for granted, that unions should be credited with in society.

The fight for the weekend is on again as well. The gig economy, casualisation, the 24-hour economy, and labour-hire are all eroding the idea of a weekend. Some areas of employment have lost penalty rates for working weekends. And employer groups are constantly pushing to make a structured working week a thing of the past, and introduce constant cycle of work shifts, without the notion of penalty rates. Unions continue to hold fast on the weekend, though. But it is starting to expand into a wider battle.

This podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts, is a short, but highly informative talk; ideal for giving members a bit of fodder for why people should be part of a union.