NI Midwives Strike Over Pay

Northern Ireland Midwives and radiographers are staging a four hour strike from 8am to 12pm today, Thursday, in a dispute over pay.

Breedagh Hughes, Director for Northern Ireland at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said: "This is not a step that our midwife and maternity support worker members take lightly. They have been treated shoddily by the Executive and employers, who have left them with no alternative but to make a stand.
"Politicians wonder why the public does not afford them more respect when they deny a very modest pay award to hard working NHS staff. The cost of living is rising sharply and this is set against a history of pay restraint and pay freezes for the staff delivering our vital and valuable healthcare.
 I ask them to think of the responsibility midwives have every single day, caring for both mother and baby. And I ask them to think how it feels to those same midwives when, despite all that, they are told they aren't worth a 1% pay rise. Think about all of that, think about the fact that other UK countries have shown they value their staff, and come to the negotiating table."

Further action is to be taken on Friday, 1 May to Thursday, 7 May.

(CD)