So there is a "right to disconnect"?

Apparently there is a "right to disconnect", a right not to work outside your designated hours. It was brought in by the Greens and it went through parliament in a day. Workers now have the right not to work outside their designated hours except when it is "unreasonable".  It is also one of the many things which is making it unreasonable for small business to go on employing so many people. 

As small businesses are vital in keeping the economy running I wonder about this. I wonder about the work ethic of some people. It reminded me of an experience Brother Cat had one summer. He was working in a tyre factory in order to get enough to buy his books for university that year (in the days before computers) and the factory buzzer went for morning break. The men around him dropped tools and left a half-finished tyre in a mould. It would be wasted that way and Brother Cat, not understanding union ethics or the way things worked, was shocked to discover this was common. You stopped work as soon as the buzzer went. It did not matter what you were doing. It did not matter if something went to waste. The incident put him off-side with the men working there. To him it just did not seem the right attitude towards work.  

Brother Cat mentioned this recently and also mentioned he would not have reached where he did if, as a teacher, he had worked only when the students were there. It was the same for me and for Middle Cat. We had the example of our parents who worked long hours outside the school day. We saw that you went on working until what needed to be done was done. It is just one of those things about a job like teaching or nursing or many other "professions". 

The "right to disconnect" is of course about more than that. It is about being able to leave the work phone behind when you go on annual leave. Any good employer will make sure you can do that but is it really unreasonable to call an employee who has gone home for the night and say, "A water main has broken across the street and we need to get some things out. Can you come in?"  Surely things like that should be part of employment because it means the employee will still have a job in the morning. A good boss will make sure the employee is thanked too. 

Not so long ago Nephew Cat was given a "warning" because he failed to attend a hastily convened meeting. He happened to be flying back from Singapore at the time - on a work trip. It was impossible for him to be there and the "warning" was completely unwarranted.  It was the final thing that made him look for another position in another place.

The "right to disconnect" is something that might prevent an unreasonable employer from making even more unreasonable demands but they will be out of business before long.