Family-friendly measures still lacking for large groups of workers

Some of the largest groups of workers in the public sector are still not able to benefit from family-friendly measures at their place of work, Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has complained.

She was speaking at the first meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Family Affairs.

She said that despite the shortage of nurses and the need for former nurses to return to work,  there were no child-care facilities at Mater Dei Hospital, where more than 3,000 worked. 

The same could be said for workers in Valletta. Most people found private nursery facilities too expensive.

Ms Coleiro Preca also pointed out that social services offices were in a shameful state to cater for vulnerable customers, with confidentiality practically unknown.

Conditions at police stations were not much better.

While family-friendly measures existed almost exclusively in the public sector, the over-supply of potential employees on the jobs market made it hard to convince the private sector that it could pay to introduce such measures.

Maybe incentives such as tax credits could go a long way to convince the sector. Although the private sector could never afford to carry the same family-friendly burdens as the government, there would be no breakthrough unless the government acted decisively.

CIVIL SERVANTS CAN 'DONATE' THEIR LEAVE

Principal Permanent Secretary Godwin Grima gave a presentation on the history of family-friendly measures for both mothers and fathers.

Dr Grima said public-sector employees could donate their full vacation leave entitlement, or part thereof, to family members who were public employees and who were required to assist sick relatives or were themselves suffering from personal illness.

Employees could also donate part of their vacation leave to their colleagues for humanitarian reasons. Donated vacation leave could be banked and transferred between ministries as the case might be.

The HR Systems and Data Management Directorate currently collates data through an annual survey on the utilisation of family-friendly measures. The data are categorised by gender, salary-scale groups and ministry or public-sector entity.

As of January 2012 the directorate will enhance the HR system through the integration of the absences module, which will enable it to categorise data on family-friendly measures utilisation by age, grade and regional variables.

Dr Grima said utilisation of family-friendly measures was highest among women employees, and the reduced-hours facility was the most popular one.

Dr Justyne Caruana (PL) said she knew of cases where women had not been allowed by their employers to go for ante-natal classes. When it came to urgent family leave, consideration should be given to the predicament of government employees in Gozo who must rush to Malta to visit sick relatives and therefore needed more time.

She also said people planning to adopt usually needed more help before than after the adoption. The eventual reply was that such public-sector employees could avail themselves of three months of unpaid leave for travelling.

Jesmond Mugliett (PN) observed that although most thought of family-friendly measures with regard to the care of children, Malta's ageing society meant that such measures could also be needed to care for elderly relatives.

Committee chairman Jean-Pierre Farrugia said people should be encouraged to take responsibility leave to care for relatives, instead of leaving them in hospital needlessly.