Article: Pay workers to commute

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail click here!

Pay workers to commute

Pay workers to commute
Article from: The Courier-Mail

By Neil Hickey

March 18, 2008 09:20am

QUEENSLAND unions have backed calls for employers to factor commuting time into the working day.

The idea was first raised by Unions NSW which said the average commuting time for more than 100,000 workers was four hours a day.

Unions NSW secretary John Robertson said if businesses paid workers to work from home it was only logical to pay them to work during their daily commute.

That proposal won predictable support in Queensland today, with Queensland Council of Unions state president Ron Monaghan saying Brisbane commuters faced similar travel times to colleagues in Sydney.

Mr Monaghan said workers who commute to Brisbane from either the Sunshine or Gold coasts ? and surrounding areas ? faced travel times of three hours or more.

He said the housing crisis and the lack of available land was forcing thousands of workers to live further away from their worksites ? and the situation was only going to get worse.

"I don?t think in the short term there are solutions to halving our travel times,?? he said.

"The housing crisis is creating longer and longer journeys to and from work.

"And we can?t say that it is just a Sydney problem because as Sydney goes so goes Brisbane. And it?s happening here now already, anyway.

"The problem of clogging arterial roads is there and it is taking more and more time to get into town.??

Mr Monaghan said governments should ``look seriously?? at introducing the consideration.

In Sydney, NSW Unions has called for the installation of wireless internet connections in trains and the introduction of fast trains to transport workers from regional and outer suburbs into the city.

[Derwan]

This article was very misleading - particularly the title.

I didn't read the mX article, but at least the title made it clearer.

The proposal is NOT to pay workers for the time it takes to commute.  It is to allow workers to do work while commuting and include that as part of the working day.

I would personally prefer to work from home and not have to commute at all!  Unfortunately I haven't been able to persuade my Manager to allow me to do this - not even one day a week!.