Employee reward and benefits news
Paid parental leave proposal is "dishonest smokescreen"
The paid maternity leave proposal of Liberal leader Tony Abbott is a "dishonest smokescreen for the reintroduction of WorkChoices", according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
His proposal for big businesses to foot the bill for a six-month paid parental leave employee benefit scheme is nothing short of "disgraceful" in its approach, deceiving families despite his hardline opposition to offering help to working mothers, said president of ACTU Sharan Burrow
She noted that it is a "pie in the sky" scheme that Mr Abbott knows has very little chance of being implemented.
Ms Burrow added: "It is an attempt to distract people from his plan to bring back WorkChoices which would have disastrous effects on working women and lead to a widening of the gender pay gap."
Earlier in the week, ACTU revealed that the newly-formed Equal Pay Alliance of Australia is calling for all political parties and employers to properly value women's work and close the 17 per cent wage gap between the sexes.
Posted by Michael Ewing
