Four weeks leave - now!

The Green Party is urging the Government to speed the introduction of four weeks annual leave for all full-time workers.

"The Greens have supported Matt Robson's Holidays Amendment Bill right from the beginning," Employment spokesperson, Sue Bradford said today. "Which is why we're unimpressed at the unnecessary time delay being imposed on it by Labour."

"Waiting till 2007 to introduce the legislation effectively means that it will be 2008 before many eligible workers see their extra week's leave. If Labour thinks this is good legislation, then why wait more than four years to implement it?

"It is the workers in the worst situations who will be hardest hit by this delay. Already, some 40 per cent of state workers have four weeks leave a year, while professional workers in the private sector have the ability to negotiate their own leave entitlements.

"It is the people at the bottom of the employment heap - those just starting out, those in manual work, those without qualifications - who are more likely to have to wait this extraordinary length of time to see any benefit.

"People who are paid low wages need an extra week's holiday just as much as higher paid workers," said Sue Bradford. "The Greens will be pushing the Government to bring forward the start date."

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