May 17, 2015
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Call for a delay in the implementation of cuts to maternity and education allowances.
Trade union OGBL has called on the government to delay the implementation of cuts to maternity and education allowances. Social partners have been negotiating a far going reform of family policies, but have not yet reached a complete agreement. In the reform, current forms of the allowances would be abolished. The maternity allowance is paid to women who do not work for eight weeks before and after the birth of their child. The education allowance is paid instead of parental leave for 21 months for mothers who stay at home with their child. The new law, as proposed by the government, would introduce a single parental leave system, in which parent can choose between 4 months of full-time leave (previously 6 months) or 8 months of part-time leave (previously one year). Negotiations over the parental leave are ongoing, but the government intends to already abolish the old allowances as of 1 June. OGBL said that this will hit low income families hardest and called for a delay in the implementation of cuts until the entire package has been negotiated.
English: http://www.wort.lu/en/politics/new-benefits-system-from-june-1-union-calls …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.