Severance pay needs to be even higher

It’s far too easy nowadays to take the good life for granted when what we should be doing instead is to be mindful of – and grateful to – our fellow citizens who toil to improve the roads, build the Skytrain connections and ensure we have a Wi-Fi connection. These products and services and so many more are due to the labour, both skilled and unskilled, that is too often ignored if not demeaned. 
In a move that was laudable, albeit long overdue, the National Legislative Assembly last Thursday approved amendments to the Labour Protection Act, increasing severance pay for long-time employees. Maternity leave will also be extended to 98 days from 90.
The show of progressive-minded kindness could have been just more pre-election politics, of course, but this is the sort of improvement for which we should be able to count on our politicians. The law should be protecting and serving less-fortunate citizens rather than merely being concerned with preserving order and, worse, serving only the interests of certain individuals and groups that already enjoy uncommon privileges.
The lower tiers of labour are under dire threat from both fast-paced technological advancements and employers’ economic struggles and ambitions. Workers’ job security is shrinking rapidly in many sectors as automation takes hold and corporations insist on maintaining substantial profit margins. Particularly vulnerable are those whose voices too often are unheard. And it is these citizens whose concerns the politicians should be prioritising instead of pursuing legislative channels to undermine their rivals.
The increase in the maternity leave to 98 days turns out to be possible without anyone feeling much financial pain. Employers and the Social Security Fund will split the burden of paying pregnant workers’ and new mothers’ wages for the extra eight days. Employees who are laid off after more than 20 years’ service will be entitled to compensation representing 400 days’ regular pay, up from 300 days.
Now we’d like to see lawmakers increase compensation for workers who’ve put in less than 20 years. The Assembly for now chose to leave the status quo intact – 30 days’ pay for 120 days, 90 for 1-3 years, 180 for 3-6 years, 240 for 6-10 years, and 300 for 10-20 years. But boosting severance pay across the board would be a fine way to show people appreciation for contributions that go largely overlooked unless there is opportunity for political gain to be made. Our business leaders’ way of thinking has to change.
All the talk in the corporate world these days revolves around competitiveness and adaptation. The considerable contributions workers make to any industry are swiftly forgotten once they suddenly become “less needed” and redundant. Recognition for past contributions is usually reserved for long-serving top executives, and they certainly don’t need any further financial assistance once out the door. Consider, rather, the lot of those labourers terminated because they “failed to adapt” and were “paid too much anyway” for work that machines can now do. Without them, a lot of life’s modern enhancements would not have been possible. We owe them our thanks – and more appreciative compensation.