Posted on 02/10/2005 11:50:53 AM PST by pissant
Female workers at carmaker Toyota could soon benefit from 12 days paid menstrual leave each year.
The claim is one of 600 improvements being sought by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) from the company.
Others include employer-provided childcare, 10 per cent annual pay rises for three years and superannuation payments of 15 per cent by 2007.
The union's Vehicle Division has started negotiations with the car manufacturer over a new enterprise bargaining agreement to replace the document that expires later this year.
The agreement would cover about 4000 people of which 10 to 12 per cent were women.
"We're at the working party stage at the moment," said AMWU Vehicle Division federal secretary Ian Jones, who is also chairman of the Federation of Vehicle Industry Unions.
Mr Jones said the thinking behind the menstrual leave provision was "obvious".
"It's the same as why we have maternity leave and parental leave, these are all matters that deal with your working life and issues that you can't ignore," he said.
Advertisement Advertisement"We believe that people should be given that time off to accommodate the circumstances that they find themselves in."
The menstrual leave would be in addition to sick leave.
"A lot of women have terribly bad periods and they are genuinely ill and we simply say that has to be recognised."
It was the first time the AMWU had tried to win menstrual leave provisions, he said.
"Every negotiation we do provides us with pointers to pursue elsewhere, but only where it's relevant, I mean we wouldn't be pursuing menstrual leave in a foundry."
While most of Toyota's workers would not benefit from the extra leave days "unless men can grow a womb", only women who were genuinely ill because of their periods would be entitled to the leave, Mr Jones said.
Comment was being sought from Toyota Australia.
>>>>Just give me chocolate and no one gets hurt!<<<
There ya go, chocolate and potatoe chips, how about chocolate covered potatoe chips, kill two birds with one stone!
Men should require blue ball leave if this is accepted.
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Zoinks!
At least the Aussies banned guns.....no stressed out PMS women going postal at the plant.
Preposterous! Menstruation is NOT an illness, and if a woman is suffering badly enough to need to take off work, she should see her gyno for meds!! BAH!
I can't tell which is real news and which is scrappleface anymore...
TIME OF FOR JOCK ITCH !(new rallying cry)
I'm hoping for advances in genetic engineering to get rid of it or limit it to twice a year like dogs. It's such a crappy design.
LOL! Best laugh I've had today; thanks!
"This is discriminatory to post-menopausal women".
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Don't forget about the transexuals!!
Oh, good grief. I can imagine the conversation when someone calls in on "menstrual leave". That's what good old sick leave is for.
Better yet, quit whining and get back to work, ladies!
its one of the priviledges of being male that you DON'T have monthly cycles......
but perhaps with hormones, it can be arranged if you so desire.....
This is a bad idea. This attaches a direct dollar amount as a penalty to hiring women. Which means that employers will begin to hire less women because they cost more. The other items such as child care and so on can apply to either sex, this one is solely for females.
There is a new birth control pill that limits it to 2-4 times a year.
They're really trying to pad their bennies.
Thanks!
And the 2nd one about unions. The first union thread got pulled because of a really really good flame war. In it, one marine was pro-union and another one came in asking who he was because if his (pro-union guy) bio was correct,then he had been his c.o. Unfortunately the thread was pulled.
I think I'd need more than 12 days a year for that.
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