ACT Labor members vote to support four-day work week at annual conference

Members also endorsed a motion for greater oversight for the employment of senior executives in the territory's public service, with a member saying this could help to tackle cultural issues faced by agencies.

The issues were debated at the party's annual conference on Saturday as part of the economics and employment and industrial relations sessions.

A campaign for a four-day work week has taken off within Labor ranks across Canberra and many members were wearing shirts in support of a reduced working week at the party's conference on Saturday.

Party member Christopher Warren brought forward the motion, saying it was a campaign to "bring the future of work sharply into focus, particularly working hours".

"We haven't had a major reduction in working hours this century. Winning the week is a very proud part of the history of the trade union movement and it's something that we can build on," he said.

"The four-day work week campaign is an idea that aspires that we should have a 20 per cent reduction in working hours with no loss of pay [and] that overtime and penalty rates should kick in early."

The motion called on the territory government to trial a four-day working week in the public service but did not specify what part of the public service this should occur.

The motion was also amended to include that workers in front-line industries where a four-day work week is not possible should receive a pay rise.

"We explore that if you are a front-line industry where this might not work for you, that you get a pay boost commensurate to the hours reduced elsewhere," Mr Warren said.

An ACT parliamentary inquiry is currently considering the future of the working week.

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A motion to support the introduction of paid menstrual leave was also endorsed by the conference. Unions had been pushing to include this as part of ACT public service enterprise bargaining but were unsuccessful.

The ACT government had previously agreed to investigate how menstruation and menopause leave could be implemented in the territory's public service following a motion, in the Legislative Assembly, by Labor backbencher Suzanne Orr.

Labor members also voted to endorse a motion to strengthen hiring processes for executives in the ACT public service. The motion proposed executive positions go before a joint selection committee with a union representative - this is the same process for other public servant positions.

The member who moved the motion, Ji Delander, cited cultural issues across directorates and said tighter hiring processes could help in curbing this.

There have been damning reviews into culture at territory government directorates including health and, more recently, the Emergency Services Agency. The ESA review found examples of agency executives bullying, blaming and withholding information.

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