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UK Wedding News

13/10/2014

Midwives Stage Industrial Action

Midwives have joined NHS workers across England in strike action in a dispute over pay.

The four-hour strike, which lasted from 7am to 11am on Monday, saw workers from seven trade unions taking part.

A number of services were disrupted by the action, but it is understood emergency care continued to take place.

Today's walkout by staff will be followed by four days of work-to-rule, which will start tomorrow.

Speaking ahead of the strike action, Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: "The independent panel of experts who advise the Government on NHS pay recommended a 1% pay rise for midwives, nurses, paramedics and other NHS staff. Unfortunately, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected that recommendation, and he and the employers decided that midwives and others won't get a pay rise this year.

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"I ask them to think of the pressure midwives have been under for years, made worse by a shortage of staff that never goes away. 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.

"Midwives are caring people who often work long hours of unpaid overtime just to keep our understaffed, under-resourced maternity services running in the midst of a decade-long baby boom. They deserve this modest 1% pay rise."

In her statement, Ms Warwick added that despite the strike action, safe services were still made available to women in need of urgent care, such as those in labour. It is not clear how much disruption was caused by the walkout.

(JP/IT)

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"Midwives have joined NHS workers across England in strike action in a dispute over pay."