Durban – Denying women the right to take breastfeeding breaks over and above their lunch is tantamount to discrimination in the workplace, says Cosatu spokesman, Patrick Craven.
Craven was responding to a statement from the SA Breastmilk Reserve (SABR), highlighting the code of good practice provision allowing mothers to breast-feed their children or express milk.
According to Chantel Cronje, legal adviser at Legal and Tax Services, the code, contained in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, allows mothers to take two 30 minutes’ breaks not coinciding with a lunch break and considered as paid time.
“Mothers don’t know that they are legally entitled to have these breaks,” she said.
breastfeeding activist and executive director at SABR, Stasha Jordan, echoed this. “When maternity leave ends, many mothers think they have no choice but to stop breastfeeding and return to work. In a bid to reduce child mortality rates and raise a healthy nation, we urge mothers to stand up for their legal rights as employees and continue to provide the most healthy option for their baby by breast-feeding,” she said.
Jordan said it was concerning that only 7.2 percent of South African mothers breast-feed their babies.
Jordan urged employers to encourage breast-feeding.
“If mothers are breastfeeding or expressing milk at work, their babies are less likely to get sick, this means less absenteeism and increased productivity and morale…”
The Commission for Gender Equity has, through public hearings on employment equity, been campaigning to identify and alleviate barriers to gender mainstreaming.
Commissioner Janine Hicks said they welcomed the highlighting of this provision, which helped create an enabling environment for women to advance in the workplace.
“We encourage employees and unions to put pressure on employers to recognise and allow the enforcement of such rights.”
Cronje encouraged pregnant mothers to notify their employers of their intention to breast-feed or express milk at work so that a private area with access to water can be arranged as required by law.
If any legal rights are withheld Cronje recommended that the employee submit a written complaint within the first 30 days and approach her union, bargaining council or a lawyer.
Daily News