Women

PAID MATERNITY LEAVE -

A Right for Working Women

SA Unions SUBMISSION TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

INTRODUCTION

The United Trades and Labor Council is the peak union body in South Australia representing over 30 unions and their 100,000 members.

In making this submission we have consulted with our affiliated unions and through our Women's Standing Committee.

We welcome the report on Paid Maternity and congratulate the HREOC for raising this important issue for women workers in this country. The report is extremely useful for unions who continue to pursue paid maternity leave. It contains research and information that is of great value.

It is timely and important to raise this issue in Australia. As one of the only two industrialised countries without paid maternity leave and one of the few countries of the world without this provision, Australian women workers are overdue in gaining a basic working condition which recognises that they are in the workforce and will not have to resign or return to work too early when they have a child.

Anecdotal evidence from key unions in SA shows us that women return to work after having a child very quickly when they have no other option other than resigning or where their wages are so low that they cannot afford to access long periods of unpaid family leave. This situation is not good for the baby, the woman or for the community generally.

The history of achieving paid maternity leave in this country and in South Australia has been through union campaigning and bargaining. This has often been difficult and required great perseverance. It is also important to recognise that it has largely been women unionists who have driven this as a union and bargaining priority.

We therefore view the provision of paid maternity leave in the context of a workers' entitlement which recognises that women are in the workforce and women have babies. Both of these truths cannot be denied.

Policies that encourage women to stay home and not be part of the workforce are doomed to failure. Many women are part of the workforce because of economic pressures, because they are single parents and also because they like to work.

In addition, young women are well educated and actively contribute to society through their participation in the workforce. They should not be expected to give up their active role as workers because they happen to also be the ones who have children. This approach traps women in precarious, low paid work and seriously disadvantages them in things such as access to training and promotion as well as wasting the talents, energy and abilities of 50% of the Australian population.

Paid maternity leave is only one but a very important part of the story. There is an urgent need to review all family policies so women and men are supported through adequate leave arrangements, affordable childcare and family friendly workplaces which allow for workers to make arrangements that take into consideration work and family life.
Some key areas that need attention in this context are improved wage rates, job security, and working hours.

The Position of Paid Maternity Leave Provision in SA.

The SA Unions commissioned research to determine the current provision of paid maternity leave in South Australia to determine the need for movement in this area.

In general terms we found that the provision is generally quite poor, extremely mixed and not always accessible to all employees, even when there is provision.

In particular the current provision in SA can be described thus:

Paid maternity leave is only contained in a minority of Awards and is more likely to be contained in agreements.
The ILO recommended standard of 14 weeks was only found in one federal award for reserve bank employees.
Provisions for paid maternity leave ranged between 1 and 14 weeks.
Commonwealth public sector workers in SA or those working in Universities generally have access to 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
State public sector workers generally ranged from 2 to 6 weeks.
Car manufacturers (Holden and Mitsubishi), Coopers, Buttercup bakeries, Berri, One Steel and GN Distributors were examples of private sector agreements providing up to 6 weeks leave though some were only available as a lump sum or reduced by the value of the government maternity allowance.
Some provisions of paid maternity leave was assessed by years of service with a longer period of paid time earned for increased years of service.
All provisions were based on the entitlement only being available after a minimum of 12 months service with the employer.
Some provision for paid paternity leave also exists - ranging from 2 days to 6 weeks.
Paid maternity leave is far more common in public sector, white collar areas, notwithstanding some relatively generous provisions in the private sector.

When this picture is put alongside the fact that young women in South Australia make up the vast majority of low paid, casual workers and are very often award free, then it is quite clear that the majority of women workers have inadequate provision or no provision for paid maternity leave.

It is also important to note that most of the wins in this area have been very recent.

The State public sector standard is now 6 weeks which at this stage only applies to education workers (other public servants receive 4 weeks and 2 weeks) and is significantly below the Commonwealth standard and other State public sectors.

From this research it is clear that bargaining has delivered a patchy provision depending on the priorities of individual unions and the bargaining strength of individual unions at particular times.

Therefore we strongly believe that there is an urgent need for a national provision of paid maternity leave to ensure that all women have access to this entitlement.

The other context which should be considered is the process of gaining these conditions as this also explains the patchy results and should point to some key considerations when proposing a national scheme.

In most cases unions have been the organisations who have placed paid maternity leave on the bargaining table and it has been women members who have pushed for its inclusion in bargaining claims.

Sometimes the response to this claim for paid maternity leave has been controversial with both women and men union members. Many unions have therefore generated internal member education and debate.

The provision of paid maternity has not been easily won and has been resisted by employers. This is particularly true of the State Government in South Australia with the result that SA has one of the lowest public sector provisions in the country.

In summary it is important to note that:

paid maternity leave requires public promotion and strong commitment from all parties.
employers need to continue to play a part in the provision or there is a danger they will remove themselves from the responsibility in providing any form of paid maternity leave.

Workers' Entitlements or Family Benefit?

The SA SA Unions strongly recommends that paid maternity leave is acknowledged as a workers' entitlement and provided as a national scheme in this context.

The particular needs of working women who have babies are different to women who are not in the workforce e.g. women in the paid workforce need to have time away from work for proper rest, establishment of breast feeding and establishment of routines, as well as time to make appropriate arrangements for the care of the baby on return to work.

Women not in the paid workforce also have a need to be supported to have their baby but this should occur through maternity and family benefits, as they are not formally connected with the paid workforce.

The statistics provided in the HREOC report clearly demonstrate that most young women now expect to be part of the paid workforce and are strong participants in the workforce during the child bearing years. We consider that the nature of the modern workforce should therefore be reflected in the entitlements available to workers.

Long Service Leave, sick leave and even paid leave to participate in the reserve forces are all available as paid leave. The provision of leave to have a child for women can be argued quite easily in this context.

If paid maternity leave is provided as part of the Social Security system it will be extremely difficult for women workers to improve on the provision and it will be more difficult to safeguard. It would not be directly related to their work and women workers would be at the whim of federal budget announcements rather than be able to negotiate arrangements at their workplace.

We therefore recommend that:

Paid Maternity leave be provided as a workers' entitlement for working women.

How much leave?

The ILO standard for paid maternity leave is 14 weeks and we would recommend the same provision for Australia.

Who pays?

In order to provide this leave to all working women the Federal government will need to contribute to a federal scheme. The cost of this has been calculated by the ACTU.

Payments up to the minimum wage (currently $431 per week) would be funded by the Commonwealth. Top-up payments up to the level of average weekly earnings would be funded by an employer levy costing less than $1-a-week per employee, with exemptions for small businesses.

This is quite reasonable when looked at in relation to the cost of family benefits and is even cheaper than the current baby bonus which is unevenly and unfairly distributed.

The SA SA Unions believes strongly that employers should contribute to a scheme through a levy.

The current provision of paid maternity leave is funded solely by employers and in most cases to the full value of the woman's wage when she took leave.

Employers who already pay have not suffered financial hardship and in many cases would say the provision has added value to their business through more productive loyal and satisfied women workers. Employers have generally gained prestige out of being family friendly workplaces and find recruitment of workers easier.

It is important for employers to be partially responsible for the provision of a national scheme is to be considered a workers entitlement for women workers.

There is an argument that small business should be exempted from this involvement and the SA Unions would support this position.

How much pay?

The current provision of paid maternity leave in Australia and South Australia is nearly all at the full replacement rate for the working woman.

A national scheme which provided paid maternity leave for all, funded by the Federal Government at the minimum Federal wage level or at a social security pension rate would continue to create a big difference between those who currently have paid leave and those who don't. It would also mean that many women workers may have their conditions undermined or removed in the next round of bargaining.

A national scheme funded by the government should set the minimum base. An employer levy on top of this, with an exemption for small business, would bring the rate up to average weekly earnings.

The cost of this to employers has been calculated nationally at $35 mill per year. If small business was exempt from this levy then the cost to larger business would be $50 mill per year or around $1 per week.

This low cost to business could then be built on through industrial agreements to replacement of actual wages. This would be far more equitable across the workforce as all other paid leave is paid at full replacement value. e.g. sick leave and long service leave.

The nature of the SA workforce - Access to leave for all working women:

The workforce in South Australia has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. We have one of the highest levels of casual work in Australia (approx 30%) and women are by far the highest proportion of these workers. Women make up 61% of this casual workforce.

The access to paid maternity leave for casual and precariously employed women is currently very low. This is due to common provisions in agreements and awards which exclude workers from the benefit if they have not had continuous employment for more than 12 months prior to having a child or if they are classified as casual workers. This needs to be addressed in a national scheme or a huge number of women workers will not have access to this entitlement.

Casual workers are largely women and need to have equal access to paid maternity leave equally with permanent workers.

SUMMARY:

SA Unions supports the establishment of a national scheme for the provision of paid maternity leave which acknowledges that women are active participants in the workforce, contribute to economy of the country as workers and through their role in having children. This scheme should be classified as a workers entitlement and should be:

available to all women in the paid workforce including women in precarious employment
funded by the Federal government at the average weekly earnings rate for 14 weeks at the minimum federal award rate.
added to by a levy on employers, with an exemption for small business, to bring it up to average weekly earnings.
considered as a minimum scheme, able to be built on through industrial bargaining by unions to full replacement costs.
not used to undermine the hard won existing paid maternity leave arrangements in a number of industries and sectors.