Northern Ireland midwives strike over pay

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/30/northern-ireland-midwives-strike-over-pay

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Midwives in Northern Ireland have gone on strike in a dispute over pay.

The industrial action, the first time midwives in Northern Ireland have gone on strike, began at 8am on Thursday and is due to end at midday.

The midwives are striking over their exclusion from the 1% pay rise awarded this year to their colleagues in England and Wales.

The Royal College of Midwives director in Northern Ireland, Breedagh Hughes, said the stoppage would not put women and babies at risk. “The midwives are angry, they are frustrated and are here in large numbers,” she said. “Half of them are here and half of them are manning the emergency service – their way of supporting the action is to make sure that women and their babies aren’t harmed.

“They are prepared to do whatever is necessary to get a reasonable pay offer for the midwives of Northern Ireland. One per cent is what they’re asking for. That is not huge in the great scheme of things in terms of buying the good will of midwives.”

Hughes said there was demoralisation among the country’s RCM members. More than a fifth of them were over the age of 55, and many of them were so disilllusioned they wanted to walk away from the profession, she said.

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland expressed disappointment with the strike action. A spokesman said: “Without question our midwives in NI ‎provide excellent care to mothers and their families. However there is ongoing pressure within our health and social care system and there is a very difficult financial year ahead, with hard decisions about the provision of health and social care services.”

“While we would like to be in a position to have done more in 2014-15, it is important to recognise midwives and other non-medical staff received a minimum of 1% extra, with the average rise through incremental progression being 3.7% and some staff receiving 6.7% more.”

The departmentsaid the “door will always be open for discussion” about pay increases for 2015-16.