23 March 2009 Media Statement
Cashing in annual leave contradicts goal of 9 day fortnight

Placing employees in a position where they can be pressured to cash in their fourth week of annual leave totally contradicts moves in the opposite direction with the much touted 9 day fortnight, Labour Leader Phil Goff said today.

“The purpose of the 9 day working fortnight was supposedly about sharing available work around during a recession to stop workers being laid off,” he said.

“Changing the Holiday’s Act so that employers can press their workers to work longer and cash in their holiday entitlement has exactly the opposite impact.

“It will mean fewer workers working longer hours.

“National claims cashing in the fourth week of holidays is about choice, but in reality it will leave many workers with fewer options.

“National was never committed to the entitlement of four weeks holidays, brought in under a Labour government long after Australian workers won that right.

“All evidence suggests that longer holidays increases producitivty as well as being important for working parents to have quality time with their children.

“It’s about work-life balance which the National government gives lip service to, but in practice promotes the opposite.

“This change leaves workers vulnerable to being effectively required to work the last week of their holidays, whether they want to or not. It means fewer jobs in an economy where unemployment is already spiralling upwards,” Phil Goff said.

ENDS

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