What is your position on this issue, a woman's right, or just another case of people trying to milk the system?


-Demosthenes

__________________
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Pregnant mother; some one who should be respected and cared for. I think this is definitely woman's right.

It will raise the employee costs in this country. This is a benefit. Benefits cost the company money. These costs are passed through to the consumers.

I guarantee you the same people who will demand this as a civil right will be outraged and totally confused when the same company moves this job overseas and gives rising employment costs as its reason.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want the super low Wal-Mart prices on consumer goods, then you have to understand that eventually the high costs of employment will drive these jobs overseas. Anyone with a basic understanding of Cost Accounting and Algebra can connect the dots pretty easily.

So, essentially we punish women for having children? We make them choose between having a family or their jobs? That doesn't seem right to me.

-Demosthenes

__________________
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

What I was trying to say is that there is a price for everything. This includes mandatory maternity benefits.

1. We can pay higher prices.
2. We can let jobs leave the country because our employee costs are not competitive.
3. We can not make this benefit mandatory.

I wish we could buy everyone a coke and sing in perfect harmony, but thats just not the real world. Giving people benefits not driven by economic reasons has a cost. We just need to understand the cost and decide if we are willing to pay it. If everyone is comfortable with the higher prices or the reduction in jobs, then lets go for it.

I just don't want to see a situation where people want to have their cake and eat it too. Give me everything I want and I will throw a temper tantrum and vent bile about the evil rich if I have to live with any consequence for my actions. Know what I mean? Sometimes jobs leave for reasons created by the working man and not because of the greed of the rich.

I have to choose between my job and a nine-month vacation around Thailand. Am I being 'punished' for taking the vacation?

Why should we be encouraging women to have children when there are millions of people desparate to immigrate here? Is the benefit to society of childbirth so much greater than immigration that we should pay 6 months of a woman's salary (AND keep her old job available) each time she has a child?

Even if you do accept that women should be paid to have children, why should some women get paid a lot more than others for it? The current situation violates "equal pay for work of equal value" - a concept the womens'-rights movement is usually quite keen on. Wouldn't a 'flat rate' paid through taxation be more equitable, and give employers less incentive to discriminate against women they believe will have children?

So you think that employees who are paid an average of $6.25 an hour should feel lucky for their jobs? We should live in fear of walmart moving overseas? Why is that? Can the people in Mexico that make 80 cents a day shop at Walmart? Sure I can appreciate your point about jobs, however, it is unrealistic of you not to also realize that those employers/manufacturers are also quite dependent upon consumers. If a company has packed up and moved overseas for cheap labor i.e. Nike, then dont support that company with your American earned dollars. The people in Malaysia cannot afford to buy Nike sneakers- they must be dependent upon the more affluent countries i.e. USA, Canada, Europe for their sales. Im sure that we can all agree that sales/profit is the bottom line for businesses. So many companies in this country have been tax break after tax break by our government and some have even had the government GIVE them money for things like advertising and expansion. They make RECORD PROFITS and decide that it is still not enough - so they move overseas. Kissing their asses for jobs doesnt seem to work- why not hit them where they notice- their bottom lines.

http://www.ksworkbeat.org/Issues/Wal...s_details.html

As someone who actually has children, I didnt receive paid maternity leave. I worked my ass off pregnant until three weeks before having my children- both pregnancies- and the second go around was a twin pregnancy.
My employer, male, in my second pregnancy was quite harsh with me because I had the audacity to get pregnant (unplanned, as 50% of all pregnancies are, btw) when I was a married 32 yr old female with only one child. There was no BENEFIT of paid maternity leave but I was still asked for commitments of return dates, etc even though twin pregnancies rarely run their expected dates and I was having complications. He was simply angry that he had to hold my job open, by law, for me to return. I was simply angry that I couldnt find another job due to being obviously pregnant ( most employers arent interested in hiring pregnant women, btw, even the crappy minumum wage jobs) and had to put up with him.
My point is that if someone is the discriminatory kind, they will discriminate no matter what.
I dont understand why this is such an issue- it is the choice of employers to offer vacation as a benefit. Same thing with insurance and 401 K plans. Paid maternity leave would be a benefit an employer offered by choice.

Btw, a "nine month vacation in Thailand" and a twin pregnancy are not even comparable and I find it stupid and offensive that you made such a comparison. I WORKED the whole time I was pregnant until a doctor put me on bedrest. Do you forget that you were born of a woman? Do you think of yourself as some great joy ride for your mom? Did your mother HAVE to work to make ends meet in todays economy when she bore you?
Do you have children? Are you a male who has someone else bare children for you? If so, why do you propose to talk about how it is if you have never done it yourself?
I also want to know where the "six months" figure came from- maternity leave is standardly six WEEKS, not months
What does immigration have to do with American, working, tax-paying citizens RIGHT to have children?

I come in to make a comment, then I find that American Dreamer has made all the points I wanted to make, only more directly, more passionately, and without my ridiculous and confusing ponderings. That's the second time this has happened.

Will I simply have to settle with posting a ridiculous pondering?

Im very flattered by your kind words- and it is nice to see that someone "has my back"