'You get really old, really quick': Involuntary long hours in the mining industry

View/ Open
Author(s)
Peetz, David
Murray, Georgina
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2011
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Is there a job quality problem in mining? Is part of this problem that mining employees are working involuntary long hours? If so, how extensive is this problem? What is the impact, if any, of involuntary long hours in mining on family life? And how much control do mining employees have over their working time arrangements? What are the possible policy responses? We address these questions through analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Work and Life Index survey, a survey of employees in Queensland and qualitative interviews with 135 people associated with the Queensland mining industry. ...
View more >Is there a job quality problem in mining? Is part of this problem that mining employees are working involuntary long hours? If so, how extensive is this problem? What is the impact, if any, of involuntary long hours in mining on family life? And how much control do mining employees have over their working time arrangements? What are the possible policy responses? We address these questions through analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Work and Life Index survey, a survey of employees in Queensland and qualitative interviews with 135 people associated with the Queensland mining industry. We find evidence of substantial involuntary long hours in mining, closely related to 24-hour operations and twelve hour shifts, with adverse implications for the work-life balance and worsened where employees lack input into the design of rosters. The findings suggest that, in order to promote 'good jobs' in the mining industry, there is both a need to revisit protections for employees against being forced to work 'unreasonable' hours above the ostensible national standard of 38 hours per week and strong support even amongst mineworkers for a ceiling on hours worked per week.
View less >
View more >Is there a job quality problem in mining? Is part of this problem that mining employees are working involuntary long hours? If so, how extensive is this problem? What is the impact, if any, of involuntary long hours in mining on family life? And how much control do mining employees have over their working time arrangements? What are the possible policy responses? We address these questions through analysis of data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Work and Life Index survey, a survey of employees in Queensland and qualitative interviews with 135 people associated with the Queensland mining industry. We find evidence of substantial involuntary long hours in mining, closely related to 24-hour operations and twelve hour shifts, with adverse implications for the work-life balance and worsened where employees lack input into the design of rosters. The findings suggest that, in order to promote 'good jobs' in the mining industry, there is both a need to revisit protections for employees against being forced to work 'unreasonable' hours above the ostensible national standard of 38 hours per week and strong support even amongst mineworkers for a ceiling on hours worked per week.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Industrial Relations
Volume
53
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2011 Industrial Relations Society of Australia. This is the author-manuscript version of the paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Applied economics
Industrial and employee relations
Human resources and industrial relations
Commercial law