Work ethic or worker abuse?

Would the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Labor Party, please explain where the 40-hour work week evaporated for public servants? From the mid-1800s forward, labourers – and ultimately the Labor Party – advocated the eight-hour workday, winning that right in the 1920s. The Australian trade union movement – thus the Labor Party itself – grew out of the movement promoting the eight hour day. Now that Labor controls government again, "We intend to proceed with long hours, weekend hours, unpaid overtime." Studies show consistently that people working 40+ hours weekly or more than 12-hour shifts commit errors, often serious, at a significantly higher rate than those working "normal" 40-hour weeks, 8-hour shifts. I’m sorry, PM Rudd: that is NOT "increased work ethic"; that is SLAVE LABOUR, something YOUR party campaigned against for nearly 100 years! What happened to the old Labor belief in fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work? – Judy Bamberger, CLA member, O’Connor ACT