DIJON: National midwifery strike on Thursday, October 7
The CFDT midwives of the CHU maternity units and the Dijon Bourgogne private hospital will be on strike and will join the demonstration in Paris on October 7. They ask in particular for the recognition of the medical nature of the profession.
Press release from the CFDT Santé-Social de Côte-d’Or of October 5, 2021:
For the 4th time this year, the CFDT midwives of Côte-d’Or will be on strike. On October 7, in support of the national strike movement, they will take to the streets to defend their profession. But their anger goes beyond personal or local demands. Because of the working conditions of midwives depending on the well-being of the women they care for.
For the CFDT Santé-Social de Côte-d’Or union, supporting the role of midwives means defending women’s rights. Midwives are professionals in the physiological follow-up of women during and outside pregnancy, from puberty to menopause.
Since 2009, midwives have prescribed contraception.
Since 2016, they have been able to prescribe and practice Voluntary Medicated Pregnancy Interruption, working on a daily basis to guarantee access to this right. And soon, they will also provide voluntary instrumental pregnancy terminations and support patients with endometriosis!
The recent announcements of the Minister of Health for the profession are well below expectations:
– A bonus of 100 € net, only for hospital midwives and 80 € net increase on average without a negotiation schedule: which is far below the recommendations of the IGAS report released in September on the profession and nothing for the private sector
– No increase in the number of maternity staff at present far too fair to guarantee material and emotional security around the birth, therefore no prospect of improving working conditions in hospitals and clinics.
– No recognition of the medical nature of the profession.
Consequently, the CFDT midwives of the maternity hospitals of the CHU and of the Dijon Bourgogne private hospital will be on strike and will join the demonstration in Paris on October 7, 2021, with the following demands:
– Respect for social dialogue with the opening of negotiations on the profession with representative trade unions
– Substantial increase in the remuneration of all midwives regardless of the mode of practice, commensurate with skills and responsibilities
– Revision of the perinatal decrees of 1998 therefore more human and material resources for better care of women, couples, newborns and to guarantee their safety
– Recognition of maternity emergency services, in the same way as adult and pediatric emergencies
– Recognition of the medical status of the profession with access to mixed city-hospital practice
– Reform of studies in the midwifery curriculum and the creation of midwifery research professorships.
Christine PELLETIER
General secretary