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Productivity Commission SUBMISSION COVER sHEET Inquiry into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave
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Please complete
and submit this form with your submission to:
By email: parentalsupport@pc.gov.au OR
By fax: (02) 6240 3377
Inquiry
into Paid Maternity, Paternity
and
Parental Leave
Productivity
Commission
GPO
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Organisation: |
Independent Education |
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Street address: |
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Suburb/City: |
Southbank |
State
& P’code: |
VIC 3006 |
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Postal address: |
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Suburb/City: |
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State
& P’code: |
VIC 3205 |
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Principal contact: |
Chris Watt |
Phone: |
0392541830 |
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Position: |
Federal Secretary |
Fax: |
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Email address: |
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0419259143 |
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Please indicate if your submission: |
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X contains NO confidential material |
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contains SOME confidential material
(provided under separate cover and clearly marked) |
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contains confidential material and the
WHOLE submission is provided ‘IN CONFIDENCE’ |
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INDEPENDENT EDUCATION Ground Floor, Ph: (03) 9254 1830 Fax: (03) 9254 1835 Email: ieu@ieu.org.au |
30 May 2008
The Commissioner
Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave Inquiry
Productivity Commission
GPO
By
email: parentalsupport@pc.gov.au
Dear
Commissioner
Please find attached the Independent Education Union’s submission to the Commission’s Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave Inquiry 2008 .
Yours
sincerely,
Chris
Watt
Federal
Secretary
INDEPENDENT
EDUCATION
SUBMISSION
TO PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION
INQUIRY
INTO PAID MATERNITY, PATERNITY
June 2008
1. Executive
Summary
1.1 The IEUA strongly supports the establishment of a national system of paid support for the primary care giver funded by government and employers.
1.2 The IEUA recognises the current International Labour Organisation standard for a minimum period of maternity leave of 14 weeks. However, the IEUA believes that a longer period of leave is more appropriate in providing time for the care of the mother’s wellbeing and care and support for the development of the child and thus supports six months (26 weeks) of paid leave.
1.3 The IEUA supports access by all employed women to 26 weeks paid maternity leave at the rate of pay which they received prior to commencing their maternity leave, regardless of the vagaries of geographic location or size of employer.
1.4 This payment should be available to all working women who take leave to give birth or adopt a baby, with no artificially imposed qualifying periods. A woman’s entitlement to paid maternity leave should rely only on evidence of the existence of an employment relationship.
1.5 The IEUA believes there are significant social policy and equity reasons for women who work in casual and temporary positions, as well as those who are in permanent full-time or part-time roles, to have access to paid maternity leave at their salary level prior to their commencing leave. Any paid maternity/parental leave scheme must provide eligibility to the very substantial number of women who are employed on short term contracts, with multiple employers or are employed casually over a sustained period of time.
1.6 The IEUA believes that the role of parenting is a shared responsibility in a contemporary family setting and thus leave payments should be flexible so that partners and/or alternative carers, if they are acting as the primary carer of the child, can access the provision.
1.7 The IEUA supports a model which combines a government contribution and an employer levy and is secured through National Employment Standards. All payments should include at least the statutory rate of contributions to superannuation as a safeguard for a parent’s retirement.
1.8 The IEUA is strongly of the view that there are economic and social benefits for business and the community in supporting women’s equal participation in the workforce through higher levels of female employment and the retention of their skills in the workforce.
1.9 The IEUA believes there should be a contribution by all employers to a system of paid maternity/parental leave, including those which might be defined as ‘small business’. Phase-in arrangements over a period of time, as well as tax-break incentives would allow all business to factor the costs of their contribution to the national scheme into the operation of their enterprise.
1.10 The IEUA opposes the concept of an employee contribution to a paid maternity/parental leave scheme, believing that women and their families already contribute a significant amount in terms of actual expenditure and foregone earnings.
1.11 The IEUA believes that the method and timing of the payment should replicate as far as possible the employee’s pay arrangements at the time of commencing leave. However, our Union supports flexible options which recognise women’s needs at the commencement of leave and rejects any proposal that full or part payment of the leave be dependent upon return to work.
1.12 The IEUA believes that the practical operation of the scheme needs to be administratively simple and that the payment for maternity/parental leave should be linked to the workplace without onerous requirements by either the employee or employer in relation to dealing with agencies such as Centrelink.
1.13 The IEUA believes that paid maternity/parental leave should be seen as genuine paid leave and consequently should be counted for the purposes of accruing annual, sick and long service leave entitlements, superannuation and incremental salary progression.
1.14 The IEUA
urges recognition of the significant issues associated with women’s return to
work after maternity leave. These
include access to flexible arrangements such as part-time work and job share or
other options which enable women and their partners to balance work and
parenting commitments. Provisions to
support breast feeding, such as access to private room and refrigeration and as
well as work breaks should also feature within a return to work conditions.
1.15 The IEUA believes there should be greater access to periods of unpaid maternity/parental leave and either parent to be entitled to access unpaid family leave in blocks of time up to the time their child reaches school age.
1.16 The IEUA supports the right to access long service leave or annual leave in conjunction with any paid maternity/parental leave.
1.17 The IEUA recognises the different family choices made by women, and encourages the Productivity Commission to give consideration to mechanisms to ensure that no women is excluded from government support due to the nature of her employment, whether it be paid or unpaid.
2. Introduction
The Independent Education Union of Australia (IEUA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this Inquiry into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave.
The IEUA is the federally registered union representing over 65,000 education professionals (teachers and other education staff) in the non-government education sector, over 70 per cent of whom are women. The IEUA is responsible for negotiating awards and agreements which include the provision of entitlements such as parental leave, family leave, carers’ leave and maternity leave. These are entitlements which are central to a worker’s capacity to balance their work and family commitments.
In preparing this interim submission, the
IEUA Women’s Committee has drawn upon the experiences of many of our members
who have contacted our
3. The Non-Government Education Sector
The non-government education sector is diverse. There are approximately 2,650 non-government schools across the country employing over 100,000 teachers and support staff. The sector also comprises early childhood centres, pre-schools, long day care centres, English Language Colleges and private training providers.
A large majority of non-government schools are affiliated with and operated by particular religious groups, the largest of which is the Catholic Church which employs over 70% of staff in the sector.
There are over 800 employing authorities in the non-government sector including those schools which form part of the Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran systems and also over 780 separate independent school authorities.
The size and diversity of the sector impacts on the industrial context and the salary and working conditions which have negotiated into awards and collective agreements across the schools and systems in all States and Territories reflects a similar complexity and diversity.
4. Context
Since 2002,
Substantial national and international research exists which demonstrates that a nation’s economic and social interests and strategic competitive edge for business are advanced by ensuring that fair and just public policy exists for women in the workforce.
Attachment 1 provides
a summary of the maternity/family leave provisions, both paid and unpaid,
across the non-government sector in
An analysis of these
provisions shows that our
However, coverage varies and the provisions are varied in terms of the length of the period of leave and the conditions applying to it such as the length of service required before qualifying for the leave.
More problematic, is the reality that there remains a substantial number of staff in non-government educational institutions who have no access to paid maternity/parental leave.
IEUA supports the introduction of a scheme which will provide access to paid maternity/parental leave to all women regardless of their workplace or whether award/collective bargaining provisions have been achieved.
Further, the IEUA recognises the different family choices made by women, and encourages the Productivity Commission to give consideration to mechanisms to ensure that no women is excluded from government support due to the nature of her employment, whether it be paid or unpaid.
The IEUA welcomes the inquiry by the Productivity Commission and puts forward the following as a response to the Issues Paper (April 2008).
5. Objectives
What ought to be the objectives of a paid parental
leave scheme?
The IEUA recognises the multiple benefits of a paid parental leave such as:
· Improved paid equity by significantly reducing periods of unpaid work;
· Providing a greater work/life balance to family;
· Reduction of financial and emotional stress on employees with families;
· Maintaining the woman’s longer term attachment to the workforce;
· Maintaining superannuation contributions and thus a woman’s ability to prepare for retirement;
· Maintaining skilled and experienced staff in a workforce.
However, the primary objective of paid maternity/parental leave must be seen as providing financial support to a mother during the prenatal and early developmental stages so that she can recover physically and psychologically while establishing feeding and parenting routines and emotional bonding.
While this remains the primary objective of any paid scheme, the importance of a second parent or alternative carer in early childhood development cannot be overlooked and must be recognised through flexible accessibility arrangements for both mother and second parent/alternative carer.
Parenting in a contemporary family setting is a shared responsibility and a paid parental leave scheme should be flexible enough to recognise the role of the partner/alternative care giver acting as primary care giver. In many family settings including indigenous families, the child is supported by a member of the extended family. The continuation of reliance on other forms of paid leave such as annual and long service leave, so that someone ( parent or alternative carer )other than the mother can access paid leave to be able to care and support the development of the child is not desirable nor does it recognises the nature of contemporary families
6. Eligibility
What type of eligibility tests should be
established? Who should be eligible?
Should the rate of payment be linked to the employee’s
wage?
It is well recognised that the support during the early childhood years is essential for the overall physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of a person in later life.
Paid maternity/parental leave should not be viewed as a reward, accessible through longevity of employment at a workplace or through employment status.
Paid maternity/parental leave is a crucial and central response of employers and governments to supporting the wellbeing of families within the community.
The IEUA supports access to paid maternity/parental leave to all women at the rate of pay which they receive prior to commencing their maternity leave.
This payment should be available to all working women who take leave to give birth or adopt a child with no artificially imposed qualifying periods.
Attachment 1 outlines the various paid and unpaid parental leave provisions contained within Awards/Agreements for non-government schools across the States and Territories which has been achieved through the collective negotiations of the various IEUA branches.
It needs to be recognised that some Independent and Christian schools are yet to provide any form of paid maternity leave to their employees and thus there are significant equity issues for women who work in schools where little or no paid maternity leave is available.
There are also significant equity issues for women in casual ,temporary positions or have worked short term contracts with multiple employers. Even women who have a long history with an employer can be denied access to maternity leave if they change employers and discover that they are pregnant before the usual 12 month qualifying period
These issues will continue while paid maternity leave continues to be viewed as an employment ‘bonus’ and not as an essential community issue supported by government.
7. Length of
Period of Leave
How long should
a parent receive paid parental leave for?
What benefits
arise from longer periods?
The IEUA acknowledges the ILO Convention C183 standard for a minimum of 14 weeks maternity leave.
However, we further acknowledge the WHO statement to the International Labour Conference in June 2000 which demonstrates evidence to support longer absences from work to care and support child and mother.
One of the main impacts of parental leave is on the time a mother takes away from work to recover from the birth, bond with her baby, breastfeed and monitor the baby’s welfare.
This period of absence from work after birth is of the utmost importance to the health of the mother and the infant. This is conducive to both the optimal growth of the infant and the bonding between mother and infant. Absence from work also allows the mother to recover.
The time needed depends on the mother’s health before, during and after birth, as well as on the health of the infant. After delivery, maternal health problems may arise.
Breastfeeding is also a major determinant of infant health. There is ample evidence on the advantages of breastfeeding and the wellbeing of the child and mother.
The IEUA recognises 14 weeks paid maternity leave as a minimum standard. However, supports (6 months) 26 weeks as the acceptable and appropriate length of time for paid leave to provide support and care for mother and child.
8. Payment
Arrangements
Should the government contribute to the funding of the
paid parental leave?
The IEUA supports a model which combines a government contribution and employer payment and is secured through the National Employment Standards. Thus securing a safety-net provision for all working women, regardless of their employment status or type of employer.
Further, the statutory contribution to superannuation should be jointly funded by the employer and government to safeguard a parent’s retirement income.
As is evident from the range of paid maternity leave entitlements available in the non-government education sector, the IEUA supports the introduction of a scheme which will provide access to paid maternity leave for all women, with flexible arrangements to recognise the role of the partner or alternative carer as primary care giver.
It is essential that such a provision of paid maternity leave be made available to all eligible female employees regardless of the size of the workplace or the remoteness.
Phased in arrangements over a period of time can be considered to all businesses to factor the costs of their contributions into the operation of their school or centre.
IEUA recognises the existing
IEUA encourages the Productivity Commission to explore similar arrangements which provide tax breaks and/or other incentives for businesses who implement a paid maternity/parental scheme.
The IEUA opposes the concept of an employee contribution to a paid maternity scheme. Women and their families already contribute a significant amount.
9. Leave
Accruals
The IEUA considers it essential that the
payment for maternity/parental leave for working parents be linked to the
workplace without onerous requirements on either the parent or the employer in
relation to dealing with other agencies such as Centrelink. The practical operation of the scheme needs
to be administratively simple and provide payment flexibilities to the employee
for receipt of salary whilst on leave.
Further, paid maternity/parental leave should be seen as genuine paid leave for the purpose of accrual of annual, sick ,long service leave entitlements, superannuation and incremental salary progression.
9. Return to
Work Guarantee
Should all employees who are eligible under a national
paid parental leave scheme also be accorded the right to return to their
previous job?
Loss of continuity of employment is a major handicap for women’s career advancement and is costly in terms of reduced superannuation and other employment related benefits.
Flexible arrangements such as part-time work and job share or other options which enable women and their partners to balance work and parenting commitments are paramount to stable working conditions of women and must be provided for and protected by legislation.
The IEUA has had to protect its members in situations where they have been told that part-time work was not available or incompatible with holding a promotional position and therefore supports legislative provisions which protect the continuity of women’s employment.
More positively, member experiences have
also demonstrated that where flexible arrangements such as part –time and job
share are available, these are readily taken up by women returning to work from
maternity leave. Recent information
provided by the Catholic Education Office,
10 Other provisions required to support
return to work.
Further to flexible return to work options, women should have access to breast feeding facilities such as access to a private room and refrigeration as well as work breaks. In some shameful situations, IEUA members are required to express breast milk in the toilet facilities of staff rooms as there are no other private facilities available.
11 Conclusion
The IEUA supports a shared responsibility amongst employer and government to a funded paid maternity/parental leave.
The IEUA believes that such a scheme will educate and shift attitudes to be more supportive of women and their families, whilst overall providing long term benefits to the social and economic interests of the community.