Midwives strike in Toulouse: the Rive Gauche maternity unit reopens, negotiations continue at Croix du Sud
An agreement was found between the management and the midwives of the Rive-Gauche clinic, so they agreed to resume work from this Thursday. At the Croix du Sud clinic, also on strike, a meeting will be held at 11 a.m.
Having left Toulouse, will the midwives’ strike movement snowball and spread to other maternity hospitals in Toulouse, or even the country? This is the hypothesis of a midwife from the Croix du Sud clinic (Ramsay health group), on strike like her colleagues, since Wednesday morning. “We have just created a WhatsApp group with midwives from almost 110 private maternity hospitals in France. It’s bubbling! Toulouse could have started the movement ”, testifies the midwife who wishes to remain anonymous. In this clinic located in Quint-Fronsegrives, the strike ends at least until Thursday morning. “We meet the director at 11 o’clock. He is expected to commit to the proposals and meet with the directors of other private clinics to put pressure on the ARS. »Among the demands of the strikers, in particular wage increases and better working conditions.
These are the same reasons that prompted the midwives of the Rive-Gauche clinic in Toulouse to go on strike last Saturday. At the end of a meeting held this Wednesday afternoon with the management, the midwives nevertheless decided to resume work from Thursday morning. “An agreement has been found between management and midwives,” says director Olivier Geoffroy. We hope, however, that things will move at the national level. It is at this level that the wages and prices of the act are decided. “
“The midwives have decided to return to work following an unprecedented strike movement. Their demands have not been heard and have been referred to a national fight that all private maternity hospitals in France will continue to carry as long as their fight is not heard. This decision comes to ensure the safety of their patients, and to thank the obstetrician gynecologists for their support during this movement. They also thank all the midwives of the other establishments for their support and their commitment to the patients during these few days ”, adds a midwife of this clinic wishing to remain anonymous.
At the CHU, midwives on strike but at work
This reopening should relieve the teams of the CHU and other clinics in the region where the future parturients have developed. “At the hospital level, we have reinforced the teams in the birthing sector, delayed all triggers but always cesarean sections. We have also opened six beds and referred patients to clinics that can accept them, in Albi, Lauvaur and Montauban in particular, ”testifies Sandrine Bensi, Midwife at Paule de Viguier hospital, and CGT union member.
At the CHU, many midwives ensure the strike movement of private clinics. Although they themselves are strikers, they must ensure “continuity of care”. “This Wednesday, 58% of midwives on the day’s schedule declared themselves strikers. 35 strikers out of 60 midwives were assigned, ”said a member of the hospital.
A meeting between the midwives of the hospital and the management is to be held on November 10. “If we are not heard, we are ready to take action, we refuse summonses for example,” assures Johanne Reynaud, midwife at the Toulouse University Hospital and CFDT staff representative.
Tuesday evening, the ARS Occitanie and the prefecture of Haute-Garonne called on “all the health professionals concerned to respect the prefectural requisitions, to avoid any interruption in the care of births, young mothers and newborns and consequences likely to follow. Not respecting these requirements is a crime ”.
Long-standing anger
Midwives have been angry for a long time. Anger exacerbated by the Ségur of health. At the end of this consultation, the midwives were scandalized that their profession was considered a non-medical profession, regardless of their status. After months of mobilization, the announcement of a bonus of 180 euros announced by Olivier Véran in September following the conclusions of a mission of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) is far from meeting their expectations.
Apart from remuneration, midwives’ sorrows are of several types: more and more tasks with declining numbers, lack of recognition, ambivalence of their status … On average, in the private sector, a midwife 25% less than in the public.
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Toulouse. After the Rive Gauche maternity unit, the Croix du Sud clinic is closing its blocks for childbirth