The Progressive Labour Party favours the French 35 hour work week - and more

Dr. Klaas Woldring, e-mail woldring@zip.com.au

Ph. 02 43415170; Mob. 04078 34518; Fax: 02 43415233

Introduction

This is a policy paper. It is about a real policy having been promised, introduced and implemented in France in the past two years by the social democratic Lionel Jospin Government. In spite of skeptics, cynics, strong opposition and claims of trade off to explain the remarkable policy the results have been most encouraging. Of course there have been some problems. We need to look at these but the principles underpinning the 35 hour work week are sound.

It is also a policy paper because it deals with the similar policy of the Progressive Labour Party, a political party which was planned in Lismore in May, 1996 launched in November, 1996, in Newcastle, federally registered early in 1997 a participant in several election since and in the forthcoming federal election of 2001. The author is a co-founder of that Party. It is the only Australian political party that has a radical plan for reform of employment of this kind. The Party has been systematically ignored by the main stream commercial media in Australia. Unemployment is still very high in Australia, in reality much higher than the official figure of around 7%. The need for policies that distribute work more equitably has been obvious throughout the 1990s to anyone who has made a careful analysis of the changing nature of work. Our major political parties have elected to pretend that today’s unequal distribution of work need to be solved by the remedies of yesteryear. Dominated by the big corporations they may be frightened to suggest radical changes that might upset their major donors in election campaigns. How to break this vicious circle?

This paper starts with an outline of the "Loi Aubrey" named after Martine Aubrey who introduced the law two years ago - and its philosophy. It then provides some Australian commentary at the time of its introduction by ABC-TV’s Report by Jennifer Byrnes and more recently by Adele Horin. After an explanation of the 20:80 society, which is claimed to be around the corner, mention of research on Working Time Reduction in Europe by the German scholars Bosch and Lehndorff concludes the section.

In the second section the situation in Australia will be assessed and the approaches of the 1990s evaluated. No real solutions have been attempted other than those of yesteryear and the concealed "blame the victim" approach adopted by the Howard Government, reminiscent of 19th century liberalism. A new even minor recession could well result in very high levels of unemployment and an escalation all the social problems associated with that. Even conservative scholars have forecast this in the mid 1990s. In this section we shall also assess some of the typical criticism by conventional labour market economists of reduced work hours which have tended to dominate the debate in English-speaking countries.

Thirdly, we’ll examine some recent assessments of the actual implementation of the 35 work week and strains which have occurred. These will be placed in the context of the conventional gloom and doom prognoses by the market labour market economists.

Finally, the Policy of the Progressive Labour Party is stated. This policy is advanced as a vastly more effective approach to reduce unemployment quickly and to provide meaningful work. The PLP claims that what we have in place now is not nearly "as good as its gets". It is suggested that Australia is actually in a very dangerous situation because the major employment/unemployment paradigms are archaic and wrong. The economic rationalist public policy syndrome has demonstrably worsened the situation – in spite of rhetoric to the contrary. The rhetoric of "successful" orthodoxy has blocked new ideas from gaining the ascendency with few exceptions. The crisis is on Australia’s doorstep. It is an urgent matter to change tack and, essentially, change the decision-makers mindset.

A. The law on negotiated workweek reduction in France

(Extracted from official information provided by the website of the Embassy of France -

http://www.france.net.au/index.en.htm)

General introduction to the law

The 5 main provisions of the law

The negotiated reduction in working time as at 21/05/2001

General introduction to the law

Workweek reduction : more free time and more jobs

Efforts to reduce the workweek - a major tool for stimulating job growth - have been both flexible and firm : firm, because the 13 June 1998 law capped weekly hours at 35 ; flexible, because the method proposed relies on negotiations - one company and one branch at a time - to work out the nuts and bolts of reducing work hours. Though the spark for much controversy and debate, the 13 June 1998 law has also triggered unprecedented levels of.communication between business and labour, organizational innovations and negotiations.

The CEOs, labour union representatives and employees invited to negotiate demonstrated realism and innovative flair in devising a wide range of "customized" means for achieving their goal while respecting both the aspirations of employees and the needs of companies.

Fuller employment

Workweek reduction has substantially eased the precariousness of employment by making it possible for workers to move from interim or fixed-term contracts to permanent positions, and by promoting voluntary part-time work. A significant proportion of young people and hard-to- place unemployed adults have benefited from the new hiring. Finally, the shorter work hours have increased the versatility and skills of workers and spurred new progress in skills-enhancement training. Decentralized negotiations gave rise to improvements that were generally considered satisfactory by both sides, while offering flexibility to all parties and creating specific solutions in every case.

Agreements offer new flexibility for both employees and companies

Negotiations have focused more sharply on ways to reconcile work schedules with social, family and school-related demands. Employee surveys conducted after workers have had a chance to adjust to the new hours indicate widespread satisfaction : 85% of employees report that the shift to a 35-hour workweek was a good thing for them personally, improving their personal and family life (86%), allowing them more time for personal growth and development (74%), helping them better organize their schedules (68%) and creating better morale at work (50%). For companies, the ability to factor in fluctuations and seasonal changes in demand has enabled them to tailor the organization of their business to customer needs.

84% of chief executive officers who signed a work hour reduction agreement under the first law of 13 June 1998 are satisfied with the results : 81% report that the shorter workweek has resulted in better labour relations in their company and 65% believe it has improved the way they organize their work.

The 19 January 2000 law incorporates innovations and extends and expands negotiations. At the same time it reflects the government's desire to continue implementation of a balanced social pact, one that fuels advances for employees and competitiveness for companies.

A law based on negotiated agreements, to win the support of all parties

As promised by the French government, most of the provisions of the second law are based in the negotiations held over the last two years. The law proposes a coherent framework for implementing work hour rules for all types of employees (managers, part-timers, etc.). It features simplified tools (annualization, etc.) tailored to the needs of production and service businesses. The law introduces new options for flexibility and new guarantees for companies and employees.

Drawing on successful employment agreements, the second law is designed to facilitate new negotiations and the creation or preservation of hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next.few years. Social security tax breaks are contingent on the negotiation and signature of agreements by dominant labour unions or labour unions approved by the majority of employees. An adjustment period allows time for the completion of negotiations under optimal conditions, while leaving the 35-hour cap firmly in place.

Three objectives

The current economic climate increasingly forces businesses and employees to innovate, notably in terms of how they organize their work. With the introduction of the 35-hour workweek, changes will be made with the aim of achieving three objectives :

(1) job creation -
(2) competitiveness -
(3) improved working conditions and a better balance between career and personal life.

The people who have already negotiated agreements have paved the way for shorter work hours. The second law both consolidates their accords and provides new options and guarantees. In addition to helping finance workweek reduction through permanent social security tax breaks, the law favours economic and social balance in agreements, supports competitiveness and promotes employment. Because it affects the way companies function, the way work is organized and the daily lives of employees, the reduction of the workweek to 35 hours is a major challenge for everyone. Those who have already signed an agreement must, of course, put it into practice and adapt their accord as needed to the new possibilities offered by the second law. Those who have not yet signed one must begin negotiating now.

The most thorough, direct and concrete support system possible has been set up for assistance:

The labour office in each French administrative department or region is available to negotiators, to inform them and support them throughout their discussions ;

Consultants, co-financed by the government, are available as needed to help negotiators diagnose their situation, find solutions tailored to their company and facilitate the establishment of a 35-hour week ; A telephone information service (16,000 calls a month) and question & answer section on the Internet site (1,600 messages a month) are available to answer questions and supply exact, personalized information.

Finally, a French-language guide entitled Everything you need to know about workweek reduction, can be downloaded from the Web site. It is designed to be both clear and exhaustive and to answer the questions of everyone who may be involved in negotiations.

The 5 main provisions of the law

1. The law confirms a new, legal workweek limit of 35 hours

Effective 1 January 2000 for companies with more than 20 employees and 1 January 2002 for all others, the new legal workweek is set at 35 hours. In addition, the law specifies an annual work hour total that is equivalent to an average of 35 hours, based on the number of weeks worked. Theoretically, the total should not exceed 1,600 hours. This annual figure applies when work hours are calculated on a yearly basis..

2. The law spells out the rules governing overtime Weekly overtime begins accruing with the 36th hour of work. For annualised employment contracts entered into after 1 February 2000 overtime begins with the 1,600th hour. The law specifies the impact of overtime on both companies and employees.

3. The law sets forth new arrangements for organizing work hours

The above arrangements, which can be worked out through collective bargaining and which meet the needs of companies while strengthening guarantees for employees, include the following: annualization of work hours ; the reduction of the number of days worked per week; various types of part-time options ; intermittent work; work-hour savings accounts ; specific arrangements for managers, based on how independently they function ; and provisions for skills-enhancement training, to be dispensed in part during the hours freed up by the 35-hour workweek.

4. The law introduces new tax breaks on employer contributions

The new tax breaks on employer contributions not only attempt to balance the burden of financing the transition to a 35-hour workweek ; they also aim to lower the cost of employing low- and medium-paid personnel, in order to stimulate job growth. Companies can also negotiate these tax breaks.

5. The law creates a wage guarantee system for minimum-wage employees

The guarantee aims to prevent any decline in the compensation of minimum-wage employees whose work hours are reduced and to raise their purchasing power in the long run.

ABC-TV Late Line - The 35 hour work week, Reporter Jennifer Byrnes.

Ms. Byrnes and her crew provided an excellent and balanced report while on assignment in France early in March 2000 (went to air 23.3.00). Explaining the very high level of unemployment (around 18% in the mid-1990s) and the need for drastic action she reported that the plan by the Lionel Jospin Government was seen as "pie in the sky" by many, even some of its own supporters. Martine Aubrey, a highly regarded Minister in the Jospin Government introduced the law claiming that 86% of the French workforce were unhappy with their work situation, some working "too hard - and others not at all" - complaint not unfamiliar in Australia at all!

One influential critic interviewed was Ms. Marie Owen-Thompson, Vice-President of Merryl Lynch, France (a French-speaker). She proved highly suspicious of the legislation and claimed.that "it could not work" as many businesses could not afford to give employees the same pay for fewer hours work. Her explanation of the legislation was that Jospin had negotiated this as

a trade off with unions and coalition partners to allow the Government to proceed with privatisations. But she agreed that "France was booming at present" and that the French could afford it. Byrnes also interviewed several workers some of whom thought that the mployers would not put up with this reform.

However, Byrnes explained that the Government was determined to proceed. A Department of Work had been set up to catch and punish overperformers.

In Bordeaux she visited the 300 year old Lyseme estate, a vigneron which employed five full time workers when in full production and a smaller number during winter.

The owner (patron) Mr. Jean-Pierre Subie was proud to be the first grower in France to introduce the 35 hour week which, he explained at some length, was the logical extension of the mechanisation process in the industry. Back in Paris Byrnes interviewed the 74 year old Ms. Vivienne Forrester, a philosopher and well known writer whose new book Economic Horror had just sold over 1 m. copies. It was refreshing to hear Forrester, not an economist herself, describe economic rationalism as akin to a "Stalinist Plot" and economics as a "non-science", something that everybody could practice. She strongly endorsed the 35 hour week.

But medium sized business operators like Ion Sakovie - a textile manufacturer with 120 staff and $50 m. turnover - complained that he would have to hire 11% extra staff and resented being told by the Government what hours employees could work. He could not afford to hire extra staff, thought that the law "was worse than the Soviet system" but still expected to survive. Truckies were skeptical and some cynics argued that the 35 hour week was the an exercise in sugar coating the measures to achieve greater labour flexibility and less security in employment, a common feature of labour market de-regulation.

Adele Horin (SMH 19/05/01) is one of the few journalists in Australia who has commented favourably on the 35 hour week. Her article "35-hour week: Eiffel Tower still standing" provides the following insights:

"The doomsayers predicted the worst but more than a year after France legislated a 35-hour week, the economy is flourishing, unemployment is falling, consumer confidence has hit a historic high and most French say their lifestyle has improved. People are spending more time at the gym and more time with their kids, they dine out more often, take more holidays and spend extra leisure hours sprucing up their homes"

She goes on to draw some comparisons with Australia:

"Meanwhile, back in Australia, workers put in the longest working day in the developed world, after the Americans, ahead of the Japanese and the Germans and the Germans and other nationalities usually regarded as industrious......about one-third of Australia’s workforce is at the grindstone more than 49 hours a week"

What about the peak organisation Australian unions, the ACTU?."The ACTU does not call for a 35-hour or a 38-hour week or a cap on daily hours worked or a cap on overtime".

However, the ACTU has called for a 48 hour cap at its Wollongong Congress this year - which was regarded a "radical". Regrettably, with the exception of RMIT it appears that little scholarly work is done on the French 35 hour work week experience thus far.

Martin and Schuman (1998), who visited Australia in 1999, have explained the concept of the 20:80 society which suggest that the amount of work is modern society is shrinking fast and that redistribution is an urgent matter that enlightened decision-makers must address urgently. Here is a quote from their book Global Trap ""The Fairmont pragmatists sum up the future in pairs of numbers and a concept: "20 to 80" and "tittytainment". In the next century, 20 per cent of the population will suffice to keep the world economy going. ‘More manpower won’t be needed’, thinks Washington SyCip. A fifth of all job-seekers will be enough to produce all commodities and to furnish the high-value services that world society will be able to afford. This 20 per cent in whichever country, will actively participate in life, earnings and consumption - to which may be added another 1 per cent or so of people who, for example, have inherited a lot of money. And the rest? Will 80 per cent of those willing to work be left without a job? ‘Sure’, says the American writer Jeremy Rivkin, author of The End of Work. The bottom eighty percent will have almighty problems".

The German scholar Gerhard Bosch(2001) guest lectured in Australia in 2000 as a guest of ACCIRT, Sydney. His substantial paper, jointly authored with Steffen Lehndorff, evaluated the evidence on the employment effects of the collective working time reductions in Europe over the past 20 years. The conclusion is that "most empirical studies show positive employment effects". This excellent study is highly recommended to both critics and advocates. It answers most critics and provide ammunition for advocates!

Lack of space precludes a detailed summary here but the paper advances the thesis that further reduction in working time is only to be expected as both desirable and essential for all parties concerned. It has been a long-term trend since the middle of the mid-19th century.

Section 2.

In previous papers on the need for worksharing in Australia, one at the Third National onference on Unemployment, QUT, Brisbane, I have criticised the traditional approach to "fixing" unemployment in Australia, especially by Labour Governments, as inadequate for this century (Woldring, 1996/1997). This approach was very evident in the Working Nation White Paper (1994) and the earlier Restoring Full Employment Green Paper (1993), which optimistically sought to restore full employment by traditional means. In spite of nine years economic growth of over 3% average nothing of the sort has happened, as predicted.

Underlying these Reports were some (hidden) erroneous assumptions:.

"1. that a five-day work week is a natural and desirable labour market condition for everyone and one which should be restored;

2. that sustainable growth in output and productivity would eventually restore a full employment situation;

3. that by allocating more money for labour market programs/training, job creation would be advanced"

When it comes to the Howard Government strategy, predominant reliance on the market one of minimal involvement in the labour market and employement creation, the remoteness of what is actually happening is even more staggering. Economic rationalism takes us back to the liberalism of the 19th century, the world of Reagan, Thatcher and Friedman and Hayek.

Apart from this archaic ideological justification the attitude of the previous and current Liberal Party’s Employment Ministers Jocelyn Newman and Tony Abbott is one of an appalling misunderstanding of the inadequacies of the market place. In the case of Tony Abbott his often expressed view that many unemployed are often lazy people and misfits rorting the system reflects the "blame the victim" mentality of yesteryear. Rarely, if ever, has Australia experienced such incompetency and lack of compassion in this portfolio to the degree displayed by Abbott, the Prime Minister’s very protege. The task of the hapless Assisting Minister Larry Anthony seems to be to give these policies a human face but they will not solve Australia’s unemployment policy at all. To the contrary, that problem is much larger than official figures suggest as important research by the Australia Institute (Canberra) demonstrates.

Denniss, R (2001) suggests that there is an enormous gap between what the official employment rate tells us and what most people understand it to mean. He claims that "this Government are masters at relying on this misunderstanding to make them believe that the unemployment rate is not that bad" Does the person in the street know, for example, that when an economist says someone is employed that they only have to have worked for more than one hour per week for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind? Denniss found that in recent years the total percentages of people underemployed averaged that of the totally unemployed at approximately 70%. In the 1990s this also reflected a steep rise in involuntary part-time and casual work. In general the figures officially reflecting the unemployment rate are doctored in the sense that categories of employees who are in reality unemployed or partly unemployed are not counted.

At the other end of the spectrum Denniss reports that the number working between 50 and 59 hours and over 60 hours a week is growing steadily. Between December 1980 and December 1999 it rose from about 6.3% to 9.3% of the workforce. Only about one third of all overtime is actually paid for. However, the major message from this research is that the system of labour market statistics in Australia is in urgent need of reform to be of real use to policy makers and, particularly, to inform the general public properly.

Denniss claims: "The principal measure of labour market performance, the unemployment rate, was developed in an era when the labour market was based on full-time male bread winners. Over the last two decades, deregulation and structural change have transformed the.labour market radically. Under-employment of part-time and casual workers is now a serious problem as is the burgeoning problem of overwork."

A proposed new system of measurement is developed by this scholar but this moves us away too far from the topic of this paper.

Labour market economists have tended to be highly critical of reduced working weeks and also of work-sharing arrangements, including the authors of Working Nation (1994) The worksharing options were discounted or dismissed in a section "Alternative Strategies" in less than two pages of the Report (pp. 68-69). This was justified as follows:

"One approach which appears to have widespread support is the idea of reducing labour supply by either work sharing, early retirement or reduced migration. A particular source of concern is that many men are working excessively long hours while women are in many cases relegated to part-time work which does not convey the same career opportunities. One of the reasons why there is a tendency to increase overtime is because of the overhead costs associated with taking on additional employees. To the extent that these and other impediments in awards to job sharing can be reduced, this would help increase the number of jobs with all-round benefit. The evidence available to the Committee suggests that while these sorts of approaches may in some cases increase employment in the short-term they lead to a poorer long-term employment result primarily because they lower overall productivity levels".

What might have been "the evidence available to the Committee"? It appears to have relied heavily on a joint submission by the National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS) and the West Australian Labour Market Research Centre, as well as on a cross-country comparison by British authors Layard, Nickel and Jackman (1991). The latter study suggested that "a strong positive relationship existed between decreases in working hours, increases in early retirement and increases in unemployment over the period 1975 to 1988" (in selected OECD countries). The meaning and significance of this correlation appears to be an instance of "reverse causation" however, that is the decrease in working hours was (and increasingly is) remedy to combat growing unemployment and to spread the available work more equitably.

Sloan ,J. (1994) in an analysis of the Green Paper, drew quite pessimistic conclusions from this:

"The reality is that without those higher rates of growth, there is every likelihood that the overall position on unemployment and LTU will continue to deteriorate, given the possibility of another recession towards the end of the decade. A worst-case but not implausible scenario is that the peak rate of unemployment in the next recession will be between 12 and 14 per cent".

However, Burgess (1994) rejected the Green Paper on a variety of grounds. He claims the Committee is."steeped in orthodoxy, as demonstrated by its open discussion of the non- accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (the NAIRU). Indeed, its concept of full employment is couched in terms of NAIRU - ‘the eventual aim should be to achieve such a reduction in NAIRU that full employment can be restored on a sustainable basis".

Burgess rightly argued that the adoption of such orthodoxy "invariably relegates unemployment reduction down the policy priority ordering". That was also the view of the editors of Melbourne community magazine FrontLine (November/December, 1993) who wrote that the public debate about unemployment "is so deliberately narrow that real "It is a bizarre irony that the advisers and policy assumptions that will carry most weight in finding ‘solutions’ will be the same ones that caused the problem in the first place.... What is most striking is the almost pathological clinging to old dogma and failed ideas... none of the key players - the federal government, the opposition, business, the ACTU, the media - has any intention of doing anything radical or different".

How refreshing therefore to read in several publications that France’s unemployment rate has come down dramatically in recent years!

Lombard, M. (1998) found that Australia’s official rate over the past 15 years (1983 1998) as been 8.6%, 1.2% higher than the average OECD rate. Yet, "paradoxically Australia’s economic growth for the 15 year period has been above the OECD average", he writes. He also demonstrates that Australia’s unemployment benefits are way below that of the OECD average ( around 35%) and less than half that of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. One would think that the this demonstrates that the case for a more equitable distribution of work in Australia is indeed very powerful.

The exception to the general trend in Australia was no doubt the introduction of the 36 hour week in the Victorian construction industry in 2000 – to the absolute horror of many employers and conservative governments. Mighell, D. , Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), highlighted the job creation aspect of this hard won arrangement:

"We’re not going to create jobs if we’re working 78 or 56 hours a week. One worker’s overtime is another worker’s job and that consciousness is something we’re trying to address". He also discussed the safety concerns of working very long hours – which are undoubtedly very real in that industry. "We said three years ago ‘Let’s start educating our members over this three years of our agreement, so come 2000, shorter hours must be on the agenda in the construction industry in this State. We must win it then" and they did.

Section 3.

The assessments of the French experience to date are generally favourable . The Canberra times reported in July 2001 that "the French economy has grown at a healthy rate every year since the present centre-left Government led by P> Jospin came into power in 1997, and France.is second only to Britain among European countries attracting foreign investors. As for the key issue of creating new jobs (abrey’s main movitve) , France’s unemployment rate has come down from 12.6% in 1997 to 8.5% now (July, 2001) this flies in the face of what the French would call ‘Anglo-Saxon’ economic wisdom: the right-wing consensus …. Which holds that, in economic matters, less is more. Less regulation and lower taxes, the English-speakers agree, are the secret to higher profits and faster growth and, thus, on the ‘horse-and-sparrow theory’ theory of economics ultimately to higher employment and better wages even for the poor – a theory that appeals mightily to those afflicted with what used to be called ‘the Protestant work And it’s not just spreading around the existing jobs either. "All that extra leisure time is creating new demand for leisure services, from gyms to restaurants to do-it-yourself stores".

The new flexibility may also help to explain France’s recent big gains in productivity, for renegotiating the working hours has let many firms get rid of old practices. "In return for fewer total hours a year, workers are open to new deals on week-end work, longer shifts, etc." A similar, more comprehensive statement comes from a different source: North Jersey Media Group – ProQuest Information and Learning and special mention is made by this source of the recent analysis of the 35 hour work week in France by Charlotte Thorne of The Industrial Society, a British-based Think Tank. She concluded that "despite breaking all the rules in the Anglo-Saxon economics textbook, the French are winning their battle with unemployment….Britain is still in the mind-set that we have to work incredibly long hours ….Practically, there is no reason why we shouldn’t have a 35-hour week here, but culturally we are a million miles away" However, some strains have emerged in France. Although the scheme has proved very popular with workers small business has had difficulty in coping with the shorter hours.

Jospin’s team recognises that discontent among business employing 20 or fewer could rebound against the economy. The remedy has been to let small employers keep staff on a 9-hour week, with compensating measures. Jospin’s Government is also expected to face trouble over measures to apply the reduced week to the civil service next year. The health service has estimated, for example, that hospitals would need 50,000 new staff to cover the law (The Times, 29/08/01)

In 2000 the combined cost to the state of encouragements and subsidies to overcome labour initiatives was US $1 bn. Given the reluctance of the (orthodox) Finance Minister (Laurent Fabius) to provide these funds plans were devised to draw on social security funds managed jointly by employers organisations and trade unions. This resulted in stiff opposition in both quarters. However, none of these problems detract from the success of the scheme as a whole and the most recent information suggests that remedies are being found – at least for a transitional period. The apparent shortage of labour in some industries has not had the predicted pressure on wages to result in inflation either

Section 4..REVISED FULL EMPLOYMENT POLICY PROGRESSIVE LABOUR PARTY POLICY (issue date of this version 28 December, 1999.)

PREAMBLE

* The Progressive Labour Party rejects current economic orthodoxy that treats as inevitable the regular recurrence of economic cycles of crises and depression and the persistently high levels of unemployment. True, these are fundamental features of the present capitalist system, arising directly from the private accumulation of profit and the expansion and re-investment of private capital, and they will not be eliminated while this system lasts.

* Therefore, in the long term the PLP sees the real solution to unemployment as democratic socialism - a system in which larger-scale industry is publicly owned and medium and small scale enterprises may be privately or co-operatively owned. This long-term aim is to combine the forms of work structures such as state, local government and community enterprises, co-operatives, collectives, work councils and social charters inside enterprises.

* Public restraint on market forces becomes systemic and wide public participation in the decision-making processes of such a system can restrain bureaucracy. The nature of the work performed and the conditions under which it is performed are factors which can be more easily turned to the benefit of the workers and society outside of a market dominated system.

* The PLP approach to employment policy in the short to medium term draws on social democratic concepts. While Keynesian analysis does not break away from the false theories of Neo-Classical economics - the basis of the policies of the New Right - his proposals for increased expenditure and expansion of consumer demand, make a limited but positive contribution to the immediate problems of unemployment and poverty, and a basis for wide unity with other progressive but non-socialist forces. We recognise that nowhere when they have been tried have Keynesian policies provided a lasting solution to crises and unemployment.

* Continuing high levels of unemployment are now a great concern to very many Australians. It now remains for the PLP to link these unacceptably high levels directly to government policy, i.e. the near identical policies of the former Labour and the now Coalition government. The PLP is in the unique position of being able to offer a real alternative to high levels of unemployment and a declining community services and facilities: jobs for all and a social system nurturing of human beings.

* Unemployed people face poverty and social dislocation. The longer the unemployment continues, chances of living a secure, happy and healthy lifestyle diminishes. Unemployment is wasteful of human resources and.destructive to the individuals who can find no useful ways of exercising their labour power.

* The absurdity of the current situation is that it need not exist. When there is a dire need for the improvement and expansion of community services requiring the employment of hundreds of thousands of people and there are hundreds of thousands of people wanting work but no government action to bring the two together, then an absurd situation can be seen to prevail.

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OBJECTIVES

Objective 1:

A Guarantee of Full Employment

The PLP in government will, as far as it is possible under the present system, provide for a level of no more than 2% unemployment, the elimination of long-term unemployment, and a guarantee of paid employment available for all who want it.

Objective 2

The expansion of employment through an enhancement of the social and regional infrastructure * The Reserve Bank shall have as its main aim the establishment and maintenance of full employment; [Also refer Finance policy] * A regionally based development plan for the creation of new jobs;

* Establishing a regional publicly owned bank to provide venture capital at low interest for job-creation programs; [Also refer Finance policy] * Develop a balanced national industrial plan which would foster the capital goods sector, i.e. the core engineering and equipment needs of the economy, as the foundation of an independent economy. Such a strategy could make Australia less reliant on export income and the import of capital goods while creating worthwhile employment;

* Publicly owned assets such as public transport systems, national parks, water treatment systems, environmental monitoring, land restoration, etc would be expanded and improved in those areas with low level provision and many new jobs created and maintained on an on-going basis;

* Direct job creation schemes traditionally utilised by councils and community or environmental organisations; * Likewise on-going jobs would be created in an expanded network of community services, education and health services, ;

* Direct job creation schemes involving Aboriginal communities in community development projects would be fostered wherever possible;.* The provision of voluntarily und undertaken Labour Market programs to assist the long-term unemployed and youth unemployed into the workforce;

* A variety of jobs in all areas would be earmarked for the long-term unemployed.

Objective 3

Encouragement of Environmentally Friendly Work Creation

Employment policy will be formed on an on-going basis in conjunction with environmental and industry policy and employment growth will be fostered in light of a development model favouring raising the standard of living via improvements in services and ecologically sustainable industries. Priority would be given to services, which directly improve the natural environment and labour market programs would also be so directed.

Objective 4

Encouragement of new and socially useful enterprises

* Support for cooperatives will be provided by means of low interest loans administered through a bureau also providing management and legal advice;

* Financial assistance to local and regional councils for the socially-useful employment and on-the-job training of local unemployed;

* The old New Enterprise Incentive Scheme available for employers would be expanded and a low interest loan scheme attached to it in order to assist the unemployed into employment (at award rates) and boost the very small business sector as an employment provider;

* Wage subsidy schemes involving private and public employers in order that the range of jobs on offer be maximised. The subsidies could be scaled in line with the period of unemployment. Conditions would apply to ensure workers were paid award wages and were not sacked at the end of the subsidised employment period. Preferences would be given to employers creating new jobs.

Objective 5

Shorter Standard Working Hours

* An immediate strategy to reduce the working week with the aim of a four day week during the first term of government;

* Incremental reductions would be made over time without loss of pay by legislation along the French model providing for successive reductions of the number of weekly hours not incurring overtime payments;.

* Future reductions in the standard working week without loss of pay in proportion to increases in the level of productivity;

Objective 6

Work Sharing Schemes

*Measures will be taken, where possible, to redistribute work. Many in work are working increasingly longer hours while many others are unemployed or under-employed. Such measures will include:

* Facilitation of increased worker autonomy to control their own daily, weekly and annual working time in line with life cycle demands and individual circumstances. Job sharing would be facilitated;

* Ensuring non-discriminatory gender and ethnic balance in the provision of work sharing schemes.

Objective 7

Limitation of Overtime

* Compulsory overtime will be outlawed;

* Unpaid overtime will be outlawed and the employer concerned subject to heavy fines;

* A limit will be placed on permissible overtime, per employee, per month, to be steadily reduced over the course of time.

Objective 8

Protection of Australian industry in order to save/generate jobs and decrease reliance on imports

Objective 9

The provision of adequate training for the unemployed.

* Training and retraining would be provided where necessary in conjunction with the above programs. Training would be voluntary.

However, a reciprocal agreement would be established between the unemployed and the government local or regional authority. The unemployed would no longer be required to jump the required hoops with no real prospect of a job at the end of them.

* The unemployed person would voluntarily enter into a contract to undergo suitable training and/or work experience on condition that a job will be made available as soon as they are ready for it..

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