Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/821520
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 9 MAY 2017 7 News proposes increasing children's allowance, extending maternity leave a teleshopping programme, with people vying to offer the best prices to the masses." Busuttil said the PN was proposing extending free childcare service to all par- ents, not only those who chose to join the workforce, in a measure that would cost the government €53 million. "This proposal builds on a scheme introduced by the Labour government, extend- ing it to everyone," he said. "We will also be increasing children's allowance from €450 to €550 yearly per child." In the case of parents on the minimum wage, the al- lowance will rise to €650. A new PN government will also seek the agreement of social partners to extend maternity leave from 18 to 22 weeks and introduce four weeks of paternity leave. "This expense will be sub- sidised by the government so it will not be a burden on employers," Busuttil said. He said the party was also proposing making it possible for parents to use their sick leave allowance when their children were sick and not only when they themselves need it. Busuttil said that a new PN government would offer free school transport for church and private school students, as already was the case with government school students. "And although we believe this election is not merely about proposals, we will still be presenting a number of proposals and will continue to do so, as we are doing to- day with these family-orient- ed measures," he said. The party will also be ex- plaining how people could benefit from the funds cur- rently being lost to corrup- tion, he added. consider industry Abigail Mamo, CEO, GRTU We will of course need to see the details of extending mater- nity leave from 18 to 22 weeks and introducing four weeks' paternity leave because so far we have not been consulted on this. We agree that agreement should be reached at MCESD level, however the GRTU will reserve the right to object to this once discussions start, should the impact on employ- ers be negative. The proposal states that the government will carry the ad- ditional cost, which is some- thing welcome; however, one must understand that the bur- den on employers goes beyond that. Employers, especially mi- cro companies, struggle with human resources when their employees are on maternity leave and they resort to differ- ent solutions to mitigate this, either through temporary em- ployment or re-organisation of work. Temporary employ- ment necessitates another pay and re-organisation of work increases work pressures and lowers productivity. The reality is therefore that even if the government pays for the additional weeks of ma- ternity/paternity, there is an impact on the workplace and this impact will be carried by employers for an additional month as this is being pro- posed. The GRTU will expect that a solution will be found to com- pensate employers in full and for this allowance to be ex- tended to self-employed. Mary Gaerty, president, Malta Council of Women The National Council of Women welcomes the fam- ily-friendly measures pro- posed by the PN, but cautions against people abusing a free childcare system for all. We welcome recommenda- tions that maternity leave be increased from 18 to 22 weeks and that a four-week paterni- ty leave be introduced, but we understand that advance con- sultation with social partners is crucial. Other countries have also allowed mothers and fathers to share the maternity leave as they see fit, following the birth of a child or after adopt- ing a child. The NCW also consid- ers the introduction of four weeks paternity leave as a positive development, but at- tention needs to be paid to ensure no abuse occurs, es- pecially in cases where the father's identity on the child's birth certificate is listed as "unknown". With regard to free child- care for all, one needs to be more cautious. It's one thing if this is to be utilised by a parent who also looks after some elder relative or a rela- tive with special needs, but otherwise we believe it would be best if parents look after their children if they can. We do not foresee any prob- lems if parents are allowed to use their sick leave when their children are sick, as long as the status quo is in fact main- tained and no additional days of sick leave are granted. ers which will have to be factored in any package that might be agreed upon by the social partners. For example, it is easy to compare family friendly measures with those of Scan- dinavian countries, but one should also consider the to- tal amount of leave days and public holidays, and the fact that some countries have an unpaid waiting day for sick leave besides systems to curb abusive practices by employ- ees. Simply contemplating a one-way discussion – or im- position – is a non-starter. Both parties should take note of this. Government subsidy would need to compensate companies in full Beware paternity leave abuse in cases of unknown fathers