Amendments to Maternity and Retrenchment acts — Kamla: Major wins for working families

FLASHBACK: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar presents a gift to little Jasmine Ramlochan, seven, at her Children's Christmas extravaganza on December 19 at her Siparia constituency office. FILE PHOTO -

THE prime minister has described as "major wins for working families" several announcements made on Sunday at a UNC press conference including expanded maternity protections and parental leave coming, as well as revised laws to strengthen and widen the net for people who have lost their jobs because of redundancy.

"I urge young married couples to consider the opportunity to become parents, it’s a most beautiful and rewarding experience," she said in a Facebook post on Sunday, hours after Labour Minister Leroy Baptiste announced that Cabinet approved sweeping amendments to the Maternity Protection Act and the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act – aimed at delivering expanded paid leave and stronger workplace protections for modern families.

For the first time, she said, the law will formally recognise paternity and parental leave, extending benefits to adoptive parents and guardians, and applying parental leave where a mother dies following childbirth.

These reforms will:

* Introduce paid breastfeeding breaks

* Strengthen protections against workplace discrimination

* Ban pregnancy testing for job applicants and employees

* Guarantee a return to the same job after maternity, paternity or parental leave

* Shift the burden of proof to employers

* Extend full protections to contract workers and

* Fast-track cases through the Industrial Court.

"We will also remove the outdated rule limiting maternity benefits to once every 24 months. The legislation is now before the Attorney General for drafting.

"I say again to young women finding your path: reflect on the gift of motherhood. You do not have to choose between a career and a family you can have both."

She said to all young women now finding their paths through adulthood, "based on my own experiences, I urge you to consider the opportunity to become a mother. One of the most beautiful feelings in life is the happiness and joy you experience when you return to a home of happy children."

In the Facebook post, the prime minister said there was nothing more completing for a woman than the sounds of her children’s feet running through the house, the shrieks of their blissful laughter, the tender touch of their hugs and kisses, the satiating innocence of their smiles, the quenching love of holding a newborn baby in her arms for the first time.

"Concentrating solely on careers, and not motherhood, during your twenties and thirties would not negatively affect a woman psychologically at that time because she would usually have a lot of single friends and thus a vibrant social life.

"However, as the years go by and women surpass forty years and older, social life slows and friends get married, moving on with their own families. While you may have achieved your career goals, life without a family and children may get very lonely as you get older."

Without familial love, money, and achievements become worthless when loneliness envelops your older years, she said.

"All humans need love and companionship to achieve their fullest potential; women, in particular, have an inherent drive to nurture and care. It is very possible to have a career and be a mother at the same time— you don’t have to choose between them."

She said mothers had long been the pillars of families at home and the foundation of progress at work in TT. "Our nation’s development and growth were built by generations of mothers who, against all odds, ensured their children attained better lives in a progressive nation."