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Arena Magazine 2005 Issue 1 |
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Supporting Parents and Carers
Maternity pay will be the focus of the first of a series of special action days as Usdaw’s Supporting Parents & Carers campaign moves centre stage.
March 10/11 will see union reps, members and officials put the spotlight on improving current maternity entitlements and telling workers of their rights.
General secretary John Hannett is looking forward to the next stage in the campaign. "At the moment women are entitled to 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings for the first six weeks only and then their pay drops to £102.80 for the remaining 20 weeks," he said. "After this period of paid maternity leave, women may then be entitled to a further 26 weeks of unpaid leave.
"Early results from our parents and carers survey show that women members are returning to work before the end of the first 26 weeks of paid leave because they need the money.
"Also, not one woman has so far said she was able to afford to take advantage of the second stretch of unpaid maternity leave.
"The Labour Government has already done an enormous amount to support working parents and is committed to do even more. We are making the case to government for further improvements to maternity rights.
"Another key aim of the campaign is to improve contractual maternity pay," added John. "We have a number of resources to help reps and negotiators do this."
These include:
- A briefing on the business case for better maternity pay.
- An easy calculation guide to work out the cost to the employer of improving pay.
The campaign spotlight day will also highlight good practice where an employer or a rep has given pregnant women or women on maternity leave support.
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