Today's Labour News

City Press reports that fathers are moving closer to getting 10 days’ paid leave to bond with their newborn babies or adopted children.  This will be a marked improvement on the three days of family responsibility leave they are currently allowed.  In SA, no statutory provision for paternity or adoption leave is made.  There was all-round support for the draft Labour Laws Amendment Bill in Parliament last week during public hearings on the proposed parental leave.  The bill was tabled by African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP Cheryl Dudley in 2015 as a private member’s bill.  It proposes that “an employee, who is a parent of a child, be entitled to at least 10 consecutive days’ parental leave from the day the child is born.”  The bill also proposes parental leave for employees who have adopted children, effective from the day that the adoption order is granted.  The bill proposes that an adoptive parent of a child below the age of two be entitled to adoption leave of at least 10 consecutive days.  Being a bill proposed by an opposition MP, the progress of the bill in Parliament so far is itself noteworthy.  Dudley proposed parental leave instead of “paternity” leave because she wanted to ensure that it did not discriminate and that the leave issue was not side-tracked because of LGBTIQ issues.  The ACDP has suggested that the Unemployment Insurance Act be amended to cater for the new parental benefits.  Trade union federation Cosatu’s parliamentary officer Matthew Parks described the bill as progressive, critical and long overdue in Parliament.  Cosatu also called for the 10 days’ paid parental leave to be separate from the three days’ family responsibility leave.

• Read this report by Andisiwe Makinana in full on page 4 of City Press of 25 September 2016

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