Call for flexible family options for workers

Workers should have the right to ask for flexible working hours and career leave of up to three years, a Labour Senator told a seminar yesterday.

"We make it very hard for parents to balance their roles as parents and workers," said Kathleen O'Meara. "Parents who are workers need, from time to time, to be able to take time off, whether as a result of a child being sick or in need of their presence at home." She was addressing a Labour Party conference in Dublin which explored the childcare provisions that could be put in place by the State and private sector to accommodate evolving social patterns.

Candy Murphy, policy and campaigns manager with One Family, said: "Women who ask for part-time work, flexitime or a facility to work from home are often regarded as being not serious about their job and so lose out in career advancement . . . This means that some families end up at an economic disadvantage."

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions says 80 per cent of employees are denied flexible working arrangements. Ictu assistant general secretary Sally Anne Kinahan said: "Employer intransigence is leading to a high female drop-out rate as many working mothers face impossible choices in trying to reconcile work and family life."

One of congress's "key demands" at the social partnership talks would be the statutory right to flexible working arrangements.

"Skilled and trained women are forced to prioritise family over work," Ms Kinahan added. "The long-term impact is to deepen gender inequality as they either leave employment or choose lower paid part-time options."