Rhon­dall Fee­les, pres­i­dent of the Fa­thers As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (FATT), has is­sued a call to the Gov­ern­ment and the labour move­ment to leg­is­late sub­stan­tial pa­ter­ni­ty leave of eight to 12 weeks, ar­gu­ing that mean­ing­ful parental rights for men are long over­due.

Fee­les was speak­ing at a col­lab­o­ra­tive “Hike and Plant” event in Williamsville, where vol­un­teers, young cou­ples and fam­i­lies plant­ed more than 100 seedlings in a sym­bol­ic lega­cy-build­ing ex­er­cise.

He high­light­ed what he de­scribed as a long­stand­ing gap in labour rights for fa­thers in T&T, not­ing that de­spite men be­ing part of the work­force for more than a cen­tu­ry, their le­gal rights as par­ents re­main lim­it­ed.