It seems that my claim last week that the Social Security Minister, Susie Pinel, is sticking hard and fast to her austerity agenda of the last few years was spoken too soon! Yesterday, the States approved not only the minister's proposition of an increase in maternity, adoption and parental leave, the trebling of paid maternity leave from two to six weeks and the addition of two weeks paid maternity, but also the amendment lodged by Deputy Geoff Southern that commits the States to implement the full recommendations of the Employment Forum's report and give parents 52 weeks of paid leave (taken over 3 years) by 2019. While this is a big win for parents, the response to the other part of Deputy Southern's proposal, an increase in the time the States maternity allowance is paid from 18 to 26 weeks, is more concerning.
Refusing to accept Southern's proposal in its entirety, the minister instead committed to a "review" of the costs of extending the maternity allowance - a cynic might say she is trying to stall the implementation of Southern's proposal, to bog it down in penny-pinching and costs scrutiny in order that it's either watered down or barely implemented at all. This version of the legislation was the one accepted by the States - it remains to see how this "review" proceeds, but I'd advise that Southern and the Reform party keep a weather eye open for any attempts to reduce the legislation down. There's nothing more dangerous for any decent social-democratic legislation than penny-pinching reviewers - it is crucial that this legislation is protected from them.
No comments:
Post a Comment