Fed: ACTU says maternity leave decision a breakthrough = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2001
Fed: ACTU says maternity leave decision a breakthrough = 2

Australian Employers Federation director Garry Brack said the agreement was a magnificent
one-off unlikely to be repeated elsewhere.

"They've got ahead of just about anywhere else in the world so it's plainly magnificent
for those people involved but beyond the capacity of most other employers," he told ABC
radio.

Mr Brack said although other industrial nations stipulated between 10 and 16 weeks'
paid maternity leave, paid for by employers, government or national health, Australia
had 52 weeks' leave, which was way ahead of the international standard.

"If one says that there's a responsibility to pay people, I think there's a question
about who should pay," he said.

Mr Brack said the community needed to examine whether maternity leave should be paid
for by the nation rather than employers having to budget for it.

"If society at large comes to the conclusion that it ought to be remunerated then it's
a national or societal responsibility and ought not to be seen as a cost appropriate to
be borne by individual employers," he said.

Mr Brack said some companies, such as Westpac, paid for a portion of maternity leave
to try to encourage valuable staff to stay.

But most businesses were not in a position to pay that cost, he said.

AAP fh/vr

KEYWORD: MATERNITY D/L 2 CANBERRA

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