Nats seek paid leave for both parents
Barry: Women ‘working for free’ from today
Labour is likely to oppose a National Party amendment to allow fathers and mothers to take leave at the same time under a proposed amendment to the Paid Parental Leave Bill.
National’s justice spokeswoman, Amy Adams, will put in an amendment to the bill going through Parliament to allow parents to take some of the leave entitlement at the same time, rather than one parent only.
She said the fulltime support of both parents was important in some cases, such as multiple births or early births where a baby had higher needs.
“What they need most at that time is for both partners to be together for a short period of time to bond and work with each other.”
The bill will increase paid leave from 18 to 22 weeks next year and 26 weeks in 2020.
Labour’s Workplace Relations Minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, said Labour had yet to see the wording but was likely to oppose the amendment.
The party could consider such a move in the future but was concerned it would cut the time a child would have with primary caregivers. “The whole purpose [of paid leave] is to provide time for babies to bond with a primary caregiver.”
The move had tentative backing from Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime who has two young daughters, including 3-month old Heeni.
Prime said she would discuss it with Lees-Galloway because it was something that had been raised with her.
“That is one of the most challenging times, as soon as Mum has given birth, and I know in our own situation that was a time I really appreciated having my husband there.
“Being a schoolteacher I think he only had about a week, and that was difficult so it’s definitely something I’d like to talk to Iain about.”
Lees-Galloway said Labour did look favourably at a second amendment from National to extend the number of “keeping in touch” days parents could spend at work without losing their paid leave.
Adams said there was no reason to block the amendment given it simply gave parents more flexibility. It did not add to the cost of the scheme or the time taken off work.
National’s deputy leader, Paula Bennett, said parents should be able to decide for themselves how to arrange paid parental leave.
“It came from young dads that we met that were taking the first two or three weeks off in particular to bond with the new baby and to look after mum, who’s just given birth and needs help.
“We were discovering men who were taking unpaid leave or holidays . . . we figured they were all adults, so if we have a maximum, how they actually split it between them should be what suits the individual family.”
National vetoed a Labour members’ bill proposal to lift paid parental leave to 26 weeks last term and instead introduced a lesser increase. Broadcaster Hilary Barry says she’s got some bad news for the women of New Zealand: they are working for free for the rest of the year.
The TVNZ Breakfast host has added her voice to calls for greater pay parity, with the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) also speaking out on the matter.
“Dear Women of NZ, I’ve got some bad news for you. From today until the end of the year you’re working for free,” Barry posted on Twitter yesterday.
CTU vice-president Rachel Mackintosh explained that the 13 per cent gender pay gap meant the boss was essentially getting free labour out of women in paid work from today until January 1.
“Maori women collectively started working for free on the October 8. Pasifika women are effectively unpaid for over a quarter of the year — their employers started taking free labour, on average, from September 21.”
Mackintosh said law already dictated that taking this unpaid labour from women was illegal.
“The free ride is about to end,” she said. “We have three parties in government now who have committed to putting the agreed equal pay principles into the current law and not creating additional hurdles for women. This will create a swift and clear legal pathway for women to claim the pay that’s rightfully theirs.
“Most people in 2017 would agree that paying women fairly for the work they do is overdue.”
The CTU had started a “countdown clock” for November 14, 2018, “so we can look back together in a year’s time and celebrate having fair equal pay law that’s working well for all women”, Mackintosh said.
A 2017 report on the gender pay gap by the Ministry for Women says traditional drivers such as type of work, family responsibilities, education, and age no longer explained the majority of the divergence.
“In fact, around 80 per cent of the gender pay gap is now due to ‘unexplained’ factors, which the ministry views primarily as behaviour, attitudes, and assumptions about women in work, including unconscious bias,” the report says.