Unions are pushing for 1.3 million Australian retail and fast food workers to enjoy an extra week of leave each year.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) is calling for an increase from 20 to 25 days a year, on top of the nine to 11 public holidays recognised across different states and territories.
The union says increasing annual leave would more equitably spread the benefits of increased productivity and help businesses attract more long-term staff, following similar agreements with major retailers including IKEA, Big W, Bunnings and Apple.
The SDA said Australia needs to bolster its leave offering or risk falling behind other countries.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers remained tight-lipped about his position on the proposal when pressed by reporters on Thursday morning.
"We want to make sure that the leave arrangements of workers are appropriate," he said.
How long has Australia had four weeks' annual leave?
Paid annual holidays became a permanent feature of Australian employment in 1941, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
Annual leave had grown from one week to four by 1974, but since then Australians have not received an increase in annual leave entitlements.
SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that five weeks of leave was "an obvious next step" as workers increasingly logged more overtime.
SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said in November 2023 that businesses which raised annual leave entitlements to five weeks were "setting themselves up as employers of choice". Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the ACTU’s celebration of "cumbersome and costly" new proposals, including the one for extra annual leave was "galling for many struggling businesses facing an increasingly challenging economic environment".
"Sadly, the focus of union leaders on growing union membership rather than growing the economy won’t be a shock to many", he told the AFR.
Would increased leave have economic benefits?
John Quiggin, an economics professor at the University of Queensland, labelled the SDA's proposal a "modest change" that "made economic sense".
"It's equivalent to about a 2 per cent increase in wages, one extra week off in 50. So it's quite a modest change, but I think it's one that's long overdue," he told SBS News.
"We're seeing a push to resume the trend towards more leave, better balance, which makes sense in terms of huge improvements in productivity."
He said refreshed workers meant better productivity, but argued that the focus should be on benefits to employees, not employers.
This includes better work-life balance, especially for households with children that require being home during extended school holidays.
Quiggin also highlighted that it would restore balance for a sector that has not benefited from increased access to remote work as other industries had.
How does Australia's annual leave compare with other countries?
Five weeks of paid leave is common in European countries such as Austria, Germany and France.
"There is much shorter leave in the United States, which is chronically overworked, but five weeks is the norm in developed countries outside the English-speaking world," Quiggin said.
The Danish go a step further, with some employees getting a sixth week.
Canada has a minimum requirement of two weeks, which increases to four weeks if an employee has worked somewhere for a decade.
This stands in stark contrast to the United States, which does not have a fixed number of annual leave days.
Could we see campaigns for increased leave spread across other industries? Quiggin thinks so.
"Certainly. I'd expect to see it being pushed hard in industries that don't have access to remote work."
