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Unions Demand an Extra Week of Annual Leave for Workers
Unions argue increasing leave will address wage stagnation and unpaid overtime, citing a 2% rise in employment costs offset by lower turnover and stress, ACTU said.
- On Wednesday, the Australian Council of Trade Unions launched a bid to raise minimum annual leave from four to five weeks for full-time workers and to six weeks for shift workers as part of the National Employment Standards review.
- Because annual leave has been unchanged since the 1970s, unions argue workers have about 160 million days of banked leave and face a 10 per cent productivity–wage gap.
- The ACTU says an extra week would add about 2 per cent to employment costs but would be offset by lower turnover, with ACTU secretary Sally McManus stating, 'Getting back one of these weeks is fair and reasonable.'
- If adopted, millions of Australian workers would gain an extra week paid leave, and public servants' entitlements could soon increase by a quarter in public service enterprise bargaining later in 2026.
- Experts warned that a larger leave entitlement could be costly and may not address workers' reluctance to take time off, according to Libby Sander. Bran Black said, 'Businesses and their employees should determine additional leave entitlements at the workplace level because every workplace and industry is different.
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Unions launch bid to give Aussies an extra week of annual leave
Australians could get up to one-and-a-half months of leave per year under a new plan launched by the largest trade union in the country.The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have announced their bid to increase the annual leave given to working Aussies to five to six weeks, claiming Australians carry out over a month of unpaid work a year, citing figures from the Centre of Future Work.They argue this leads to a higher rate of stress and …
·Australia
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left5Leaning Right4Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution46% Left
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources lean Left
46% Left
L 46%
C 18%
R 36%
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