Midwives at DHBs vote to stop work

More than 1100 District Health Board-employed (DHB) midwives have voted to strike, becoming the latest group to take industrial action since the Labour administration came into power.

Midwives have rejected the DHBs’ latest pay offer and have elected to take industrial action, the Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Services (Meras) confirmed yesterday.

Midwives would give notice from today of two-hour work stoppages every day on every shift over a two-week period, starting Thursday, November 22.

Meras industrial co-leader Jill Ovens said the idea was to maximise disruption for the DHBs while minimising the effect on women and their babies.

Ovens said midwives had been offered the same pay rates as nurses despite having greater responsibility, training and experience.

‘‘It’s not that midwives think they are better than nurses, it’s just that they want their case in terms of setting of wages to be considered in its own right, given they are a profession in their own right.’’

Ovens said midwives had ‘‘reluctantly’’ accepted the same pay deal made by DHBs to nurses for the past 10 years.

She said Meras had no say in the negotiations for the nurses.

‘‘We’re not party to them, we’re not informed about them and yet we’re expected to just roll over and accept it and our members just said no.’’

Meras had made several recommendations to achieve increased pay rates including a higher percentage increase and retention allowances but these had all been rejected by the DHBs.

Negotiations started more than a year ago and midwives had made it clear a key claim was for a pay differential with the nurses.

The strike would be the first ever industrial action by midwives and the move underscores the high level of concern about the future workforce.

A recent Ministry of Health report on the midwifery workforce showed the sector was in crisis, Ovens said.

The average age to enter the sector was 33, with most midwives working part-time.

Training over four years involved intensive practical experience. ‘‘And the pay is lousy. They start on $49,450 and the maximum that they can get to is $66,000 with all that experience and training.’’

The two-hour strike period will be different each day and DHBs will receive daily notification of the times, Ovens said.