NSW: Uni staff win year-long paid maternity

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2001
NSW: Uni staff win year-long paid maternity

SYDNEY, Aug 15 AAP - Women staff at the Australian Catholic University have won the
right to a year's paid maternity leave, it was reported today.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the agreement is unprecedented and has been hailed by
unions as a pace-setter for all workers.

The university told the paper the entitlement, in an enterprise pay deal for 450 non-academic
employees, would be available soon to all female staff.

Under the deal, women with two years' service will receive their full salary for 12
weeks and then 60 per cent for the remaining 40 weeks of their year off.

The agreement outstrips the legal minimum requirement of a year's unpaid parental leave
for the primary carer of newborn or newly adopted children, the paper says.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow told the Herald the deal recognised the responsibility
of parents in rearing children in the balance between work and family life.

The university deal applies to its two NSW campuses at North Sydney and Strathfield,
and others in Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Ballarat.

AAP nf/md

KEYWORD: MATERNITY

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.