Union boss calls for paid time off for carers

The
right to take parental leave and time-off to care for dependants is
"meaningless" for many low-paid workers, because they don’t get any
money for it, trade union Usdaw said yesterday.

Speaking
at the TUC conference, Usdaw
general secretary John Hannett
said workers should be given the right to take paid parental leave, and that
maternity pay should be offered for 52 weeks rather than the current 26 weeks.

"The
statutory right to unpaid parental leave doesn’t mean much for low-paid,
predominantly women workers,” he said. “It’s not because parents don’t know
about it – they just can’t afford to take it.”

Hannett said that nationally, the
take-up for parental leave and time-off to care for dependants was only 3 per
cent.

“It
is a vital right that’s got to get off the paper it’s written on and into
people’s lives for real,” he said.

By Michael Millar

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ