![Portrait of Adam King, Labour Studies](https://news.umanitoba.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Adam-King-Bio-Photo-landscape-1200x1015.jpeg)
Winnipeg Free Press: Parental leave top-ups push way into contract negotiation spotlight
August 21, 2024 —
Adam King, a University of Manitoba labour studies professor, considers the new Legal Aid Lawyers’ Association contract “somewhat strange.”
Members receive a top-up for a maternity leave — covering roughly four months post-partum — but not parental leave, which can begin once maternity leave ends.
“Typically, if you have a top-up on one, you have a top-up on both,” King said.
There’s been a long-standing demand from Canada’s labour movement to reform the country’s employment insurance program and “make it more generous,” King added.
“Because employment insurance in Canada is relatively stingy … you have this problem of unions trying to negotiate benefit top-ups.”
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