Workers at Thales Garden Island plant will have access to 10 days paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave as part of a new EBA voted up by employees on Tuesday.
This makes Thales the biggest manufacturing workforce in Australia to establish the vital new entitlement.
The agreement will flow into National Thales Framework Agreement, meaning 3600 workers across the country will have access to this leave.
10 days paid leave is what front-line workers and experts believe is necessary to allow people experiencing family or domestic violence to escape and relocate themselves and their families.
The Morrison Government has so far only granted 5 days unpaid leave, which leaves workers facing an impossible choice between keeping themselves and their families safe and maintaining their financial independence or keeping their job.
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil:
“No one should have to choose between keeping their job and escaping abuse.
“All workers should be entitled to, at a minimum, 10 days paid leave, this is a great step forward for all the workers at Thales.
“We congratulate the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union, the National Union of Workers and Professionals Australia who have campaigned and won this entitlement, and Thales for taking the action necessary to ensure that workers and their families are safe.
“The Australian trade union movement is campaigning to ensure that everyone has access to this entitlement which will save lives. The Morrison Government is out of step with the evidence, the community support for and need for 10 days paid Family and Domestic Violence.
“The Morrison Government is not doing what is required to protect workers and their families from family and domestic violence. 5 days unpaid leave is grossly inadequate.
“We need to change the rules so that all workers have 10 days paid leave, enshrined in the National Employment Standards.”
