I also couldn't care less about maternity leave either, what about the crew who do not choose "children" as their lifestyle?
Plus be careful, with the goverment's proposed changes to maternity leave you could very well end up with something that is only what they are required to provide by law.
It only makes sense to trade off basic working conditions for increased mat leave IF...
1. Maternity leave is important to you, safe to say that for at least 50% of crew it is not.
2. You end up with something significantly more than what is required by law.
I wouldn't mind the maternity leave thing if it applied to all crew equally. Meaning if you didn't have any children you are still entitled to the same paid leave and return to work conditions for doing something else you choose to do (perhaps subject to years of service).