in Toulouse, midwives strike for wages and working conditions
Illustrative photo. Credit: AFP
This Wednesday, November 3, the midwives of the private clinic Croix du Sud in Quint-Fonsegrives (Haute-Garonne) began a particularly followed mobilization which led to the temporary closure of the maternity. According to France3 Régions, their demands relate to the revaluation of wages as well as better working conditions, which implies in particular the opening of additional posts.
This movement is part of the continuity of the various mobilizations of midwives. On September 27, a national midwifery strike was attended by 7,000 midwives who gained access to Paris. Since October, in the Toulouse region, two other maternities, that of the Union clinic and that of the Rive Gauche clinic, have been strongly mobilized.
Still for France3 Régions, Céline Morais explains that “ in the private sector, we are lagging behind in terms of salaries [comparé au secteur public]. On average, over a 40-year career, we are paid 25% less, it becomes unacceptable. If I resume my last payslips before the Grenelle de la santé, I earn 2,200 euros for 17 years of seniority. Night hours are paid very little compared to daytime hours, that’s ridiculous. Studies last five years. The first year is shared with the doctors. ” She adds : ” We have people who arrive with a lump in their stomachs, who crack, since the spring it is the horror, there has already been a resignation … how many others? Our workload is too heavy. We’re not going to hold on, we’re going to crack “.
There are many resignations in this sector due to particularly difficult working conditions, but recruitments are rare. Employees are understaffed, tending to constantly increase the workload and pace of work. This endangers not only the health and safety of the employees but also that of the patients.
In the Rive-gauche maternity hospital, seven midwives were recently issued out of a staff of 40.
As such, the collective of angry midwives of Rive-Gauche, Quoted by France-Blue, expressed his fed up with the inertia of management and public authorities regarding the multiple alerts relating to their working conditions. The collective affirms that ” no progress has taken place. The latest meetings with the ministry have once again stifled the voice of salaried midwives in the private sector. Our team is at its wit’s end “.
The response to the distress of these employees was – as often – only repressive. Initially, requisitions of striking midwives were in fact put in place. Then, this Monday, the ARS Occitanie and the prefecture of Haute-Garonne seized the Public Prosecutor for non-response from the strikers to the requisitions.
According to Actu.fr, subsequently, health professionals were asked ” to respect prefectural requisitions, to avoid any interruption in the care of births, young mothers and newborns and the consequences likely to follow. Not respecting these requirements is an offense. All health establishments are required to continue their public service mission in the service of the patients received. “.
Thus, the prefecture and the ARS require this staff already exhausted by the period of health crisis and the constant reduction of its means to return to their noxious and dangerous working conditions!
The mobilization continues these weeks. A day of mobilization is to take place Thursday, October 7, supported by the gynecologists and obstetricians of the Toulouse University Hospital who announced ” support their demands “.