New Australian Working Time Minimum Standards: Reproducing the Same Old Gendered Architecture?

Abstract

This article focuses on the minimum working time standards in the ‘safety net’ created by the Fair Work Act 2009. We draw on an analysis of on-paper minima in the 10 National Employment Standards and in two Modern Awards covering paid care workers . We argue that the gendered legacy of poorer working time provisions in non-standard jobs held by many Australian women workers has been reproduced in the architecture of the new Fair Work regime. Our case study suggests that the permanent full-time norm of employment continues to permeate working time regulation, despite the fragmentation of the standard employment relationship with the growth in casual and part-time work. Not only does casual status limit the access of many women workers to particular National Employment Standards, but there remain significant and gendered differences in award minimum working time standards, particularly for casual and part-time care workers, in comparison with the conditions and protections provided in one of the key male industry awards. Further, a hierarchy of working time standards for care workers has been reproduced, underpinned by differences in contract status, job classification and work location. This leaves those at the bottom of this hierarchy with little working time or income security.