Long hours, always ‘on’? We’ve forgotten why this is a long weekend

Labour Day is Victoria’s forgotten public holiday. The significance of the events it commemorates – the 8-hour-day working day– have faded from public memory. This is a great shame because Labour Day celebrates a homegrown achievement that is one of Melbourne’s greatest contributions to humanity.

It comes from a glorious era between 1850 to around 1910 when Australia led the world in the advancement of human rights and democratic principles.

The monument on the corner of Lygon and Victoria streets, Carlton, commemorating the 8-hour-dayCredit: Wayne Taylor

The 8-hour-day was a campaign by the labour movement in the 1850s that brought about a revolution in workers rights. It was led by skilled tradespeople who had immigrated to Australia for the gold rushes and had been influenced by the Chartist movement in Britain and the democratic crucible of the United States.

In the 1800s, most Victorians worked up to 14 hours a day, six days a week, on a piece rate. There was no sick leave, no holiday leave and employers could sack employees at any time, without giving a reason.

The 8-hour-day campaign was based on the ideal of an eight-hour working day with “eight hours labour, eight hours rest and eight hours recreation”.

A reproduction of one of the 8-hour-day banners used in the original campaign.Credit: State Library of Victoria

The campaign came to a head in 1856 when stonemasons James Stephens and James Galloway led tradesmen from the construction site at the University of Melbourne on a march to Parliament House. They made their way through the Hoddle Grid picking up workers from other sites as they went.

When they arrived at Parliament House, the parliamentarians emerged and agreed to their claims, granting a reduction in the working day to eight hours and host of other rights, without a pay reduction.

It was a victory that became famous the world over. The eight-hour day spread to other trades, across the Australian colonies and to other nations. It was a pivotal point in Victoria’s political history and paved the way for a long line of major advances in human rights and pioneering democratic reforms.

From the 1850s, our colonial parliaments led the then radical extension of the vote to all men, without requiring proof of income or property ownership.

Other innovations included the secret ballot which is still known as the Australian ballot in many parts of the world; payment of parliamentarians which meant people of ordinary means could represent their community; elections on a Saturday so working people could attend; and the establishment of an independent electoral commission something they still don’t have in the United States.

In 1894, South Australia became the first jurisdiction in the world to give women the right to vote and run for election to parliament.

From 1901, our federation model for governing the continent was world leading, bringing together the best aspects of political systems in North America and Europe along with some home-grown innovations. While the introduction of compulsory voting created a democratic duty on citizens which has severed the nation well for a century.

When leading French politician and author Albert Metin arrived in Australia in 1899 he was blown away, describing the antipodes as a “workers’ paradise”, a place where the advancement of human rights were not based on political theory but rather a series of pragmatic steps taken to address specific issues.

As Metin put it, Australia had the ingenuity of a young democracy willing, in the face of harsh conditions, to take risks and to experiment, with the spirit of “let’s try this idea”.

So as you relax this long weekend, maybe take a moment to reflect on the forgotten history of Labour Day and what it might mean for modern Australia?

We need to have a long hard look at the rights and conditions of the modern-day worker. For many of us, the working day is longer than that of the 1850s as online technologies and smartphones have moved the office deep into what used to be private time. While the conditions for low-skilled pieceworkers in the gig-economy have striking similarities to those that the labour movement fought against in the 1800s.

According to a survey conducted last year by management services company ADP, workers are doing on average an extra 7.3 hours of unpaid work a week, up from 5.8 pre-pandemic.

Meanwhile, our democracy is still the gold standard, but we are not seen as the innovators we once were. On something like marriage equality we were a laggard, while the parliaments of northern Europe are a greater source of inspiration for nations looking to improve their democratic institutions.

Australia did not come to lead the world in human rights and democracy through complacency, nor did it not fall in our lap as if by magic. It happened through struggle and effort and sometimes protest, because enough people cared enough to make it happen. Do we still have that same spirit? A Labour Day weekend reflection indeed.

Nicholas Reece is a fellow at the University of Melbourne and deputy lord mayor of the City of Melbourne.