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Construction levy key to PMLDate: 07 August 2002
The construction levy is a key to paid maternity and adoption leave according to the QCU's submission to HREOC. Today the Queensland Council of Union's lodged its submission to HREOC on "Valuing Parenthood" Options for Paid Maternity Leave. QCU General Secretary Grace Grace said the QCU's submission does not call for employers to assume 100% of the burden and seeks that the Federal government funds paid maternity leave for 14 weeks up to the level of the federal minimum wage. "However, the QCU does call on employers to fund the gap between the federal minimum wage and women's pre-leave incomes. To avoid any disincentive to employing women of childbearing age, such payment should be funded by a levy," Ms Grace said. "The QCU believes that the levy should operate along the lines of the various Portable Long Service Leave schemes which operate in each state," she said. "These schemes have been in operation since the early 1990's to provide portable long service leave entitlements on full pay to workers, majority male, in the building and construction industry. The Queensland scheme alone funds long service leave for over 130,000 workers at any given time." she said. "Overall the paid leave component is $0.25 for every $1000 of costs for projects costed at $80,000 or more. This equates to a mere $20.00 for an $80,000 project, Ms Grace said. "In 2000 there were only 249,600 births in Australia, given a larger pool of employers would fund any levy, it should be possible to tailor a scheme that provides a top up via an extremely low levy on employers," she said. "The QCU's submission demonstrates there are viable options to fund paid maternity leave in Australia and that the employer scaremongering of prohibitive costs is unfounded," she said. "The QCU will continue to campaign for paid maternity and adoption leave for Queensland workers," Ms Grace said. Download the QCU's full submission at www.qcu.asn.au/HREOC_Submission.pdf
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© 1997-2002 LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW 10th Floor, 377-383 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph: (02) 9264 1691 Fax: (02) 9261 3505 http://www.labor.net.au/news/2257.html Last Modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 18:35:18 EST
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