Book launch: Professor Sean Scalmer's 'A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time'
Schedule
Tue, 16 Sep, 2025 at 08:00 am
UTC+10:00Location
Solidarity Hall, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton | Melbourne, VI
Advertisement
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).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
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. This has produced a social crisis for all Australians, but is yet to inspire adequate political action.
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.
To purchase the book:
https://www.mup.com.au/books/a-fair-day-s-work/9780522880816
To book your seat for the launch:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/from-the-eight-hour-day-to-the-four-day-week-book-launch-and-discussion-tickets-1592658728129
Image by illustrator Sam Wallman
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Solidarity Hall, Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton, 54 Victoria St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia, MelbourneEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
