The ANMF has urged federal MPs to strengthen the National Employment Standards (NES), arguing that current provisions fail to meet the needs of a highly feminised workforce and fall short of the Fair Work Act's objectives of job security and gender equality.

ANMF representatives yesterday appeared before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training’s Inquiry into the Operation and Adequacy of the National Employment Standards, held in Melbourne this week. The union has made four key recommendations aimed at modernising parental leave, improving safety protections for pregnant workers, and expanding access to personal and carer’s leave. 

The NES must better reflect the realities of nursing and midwifery, professions dominated by women and shaped by gender‑based occupational segregation, ANMF Assistant to the Federal Secretary Alana Ginnivan told the Parliamentary Inquiry. "Nurses and midwives not only care for women and parents who need time away from work to care for their newborns and children, but they may also need that same access to leave during their own careers," she said.

The ANMF has called for the removal of the legislative requirement to have completed 12 months’ service before being able to access unpaid parental leave. “As it currently stands, a new employee could fall pregnant two months into their employment, give birth at the 11-month mark, but fall one month short of being able to take unpaid parental leave,” said Ms Ginnivan. 

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Main image: ANMF Assistant to the Federal Secretary (Strategy & Campaigns) Alana Ginnivan, RN & midwife Abbi Ainsworth, and ANMF Federal Industrial Officer Paul Yiallouros represented the ANMF at the federal Inquiry into the operation and adequacy of the National Employment Standards.