I blog
enough about how bad things are working in the public sector (and local
government in particular) and also have enough to say criticising what I
perceive as the shortcomings of my own trade union.
I think it
is worth saying that not everything is bad, and that effective trade union
organisation can still be the foundation for the negotiation of improvements to
the conditions of service of our members.
In a few
weeks shared
parental leave will come into force. This progressive new statutory
provision enables the sharing of maternity (or adoption) leave and pay between
two partners – but the statutory provision only provides for a fairly minimal
rate of pay.
Given that
this statutory pay rate is well below the (better) contractual rates of
maternity pay available to many UNISON members, if employers do not improve
upon the statutory minimum rate of pay for shared parental leave take-up will
be minimal.
This would
rather defeat the purpose of bringing this new leave provision into force.
That may be
why even this Government announced their intention
to pay shared parental leave at the same rate as equivalent maternity leave.
UNISON branches need to demand at least the same from all our employers. We
must not allow the climate of austerity and the constant cutbacks and
redundancies to inhibit us from fighting for better conditions, particularly
where these promote equality.
Today I
signed, on behalf of the joint trade unions for my employer, an agreement which
gives equivalent rates of pay for shared parental leave to the rates of
maternity pay (under a local agreement which is as good as the best in local
government).
It is not
all bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment