Employers expected to resist expanding maternity leave

By Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul

The Nation

The National Health Assembly yesterday asked the government to extend maternity leave to six months so new mothers can breastfeed their babies, but the Public Health Ministry was less than optimistic about employer cooperation.

"We could extend maternity leaves but employers might cut the salaries of female employees who ask for permission to take them," Dr Siriwat Thiptaradol, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, said yesterday.

The group wants the 1998 labour law revised, as it allows only three months of maternity leave.

It also will ask workplaces to set up milk banks so mothers can expressfeed their babies during office breaks.

Siriwat had chaired a meeting of the working group on babyfood marketing and promotion control.

Thailand has a lower breastfeeding rate than its neighbours such as Vietnam and Cambodia, while Rwanda the exclusive breastfeeding rate for six months is 88 per cent.

Mother's milk may protect children from several ailments, while powdered milk may trigger allergies, diarrhoea, inflammation of mucous membranes, and protein allergy, he said. The ministry has found that about 17,000 Thai children suffer from these diseases each year and it spends Bt80 million on their medical treatment.

Expanding maternity leave to six months would be impossible, as most employers were worried about the impact on their staffing and finances, Siriwat said.

Some women will be fired if they ask for the longer maternity leave, he said.

-- The Nation 2010-12-17

Expanding maternity leave at say half rate of pay would be advisable. Also babies deserve to be set up properly with the correct immune system i.e that of the mother from breast milk!

Although laudable, the emphasis upon maternity leave is shortsighted. There should be paternity leave where both men and women qualify for the leave. Obviously, women need more time thean men, but men still should be part of the dscussion. Time off for a man allows the man to develop a bond with his children that helps build stronger families and bolsters the family unit.

Unpaid parental leave means that with the arrival of a child, a family's income will drop significantly. If a parent must withdraw from the workforce, that means less income to purchase the goods and services that keep the Thai economy humming.

Excluding the wealthy demographic, for the majority of families where both mom and dad work, it is due to necessity. The mother's income helps provide for the survival of the family. There is a growing labour shortage that cannot be resolved by Burmese labour. If Thailand wants to increase its birthrate amongst the woking class, which is the majority of the population, then it needs to make it economically possible.

Supply and demand! There are more menial labor jobs affected by this than skilled jobs. Of those, the menial labor jobs held by pregnant women are jobs that could easily have a queue of 20 or 30 non-pregnant, capable women waiting to be employed.

Do the math! Is it easier to sack the pregnant women, and hire a replacement for a job with a low O.J.T. learning curve - Or - Is it a benefit to the bottom line (profit) to keep the women for 6 months of paid leave; hire another worker; and when the mother returns, sack the replacement?

I can not expect businesses here to abide by decency whenever the economy is in a tailspin, the government won't put its money where its mouth is, and the average job is low skilled, and has numerous people in-queue, who could just as easily step in and replace the worker.

Is is regrettable for the women, her husband, and her child, but what do you expect?

If the government will provide no financial incentives to deflect the temptation to replace workers in jobs that are low skilled, then the law of "Go Where There is Least Resistance" will engage.

It is almost as if getting pregnant causes punishment, I understand that, but this article does not look at both sides of the issue, and all the contributing factors.

Was curious as to what other countries offer.

Parental Leave allowances by Country