Since this Wednesday morning and until Saturday, the midwives of the Rive Gauche clinic in Toulouse are on renewable strike. They are asking, as in last October, for a reinforcement of their workforce, a salary increase and better recognition of their status.
At the end of last October, their movement had led to the closing of blocks in several maternities in the agglomeration. Agreements had ended up being found, clinic by clinic, particularly in terms of job creation. The Minister of Health, for its part, had worked to increase their remuneration in relation to that of the public.
But on the Left Bank clinic side, according to a midwife who wished to remain anonymous, the management had not given up: “we resumed work for the organization of care but without obtaining anything”. As for government measures, “these are only bonuses that can jump overnight”.
Some of the doctors of the establishment reacted by press release to specify that since the beginning of their movement, they had always supported the midwives. “We have worked on the significant advances they have obtained. We wish to continue this dynamic with them but are incomprehensible in the face of their current strike, occurring in a context made difficult by the 5th wave of Covid” they qualify. Management for its part did not respond to our interview request.
The strike has also resumed for a week at the Union polyclinic but with “minimum service and acceptance of requisitions” specifies Alizé Didona. “We were the first to start the action in October” recalls the midwife. “We had only obtained a bonus on night duty,” she adds.
The teams are exhausted
A striking midwife
This new strike is part of a national movement started at the beginning of the month. “We perform clinically a quarter of French births. We represent 14% of the entire profession. We cannot be left behind,” insists the press release from the midwives of the FHP (Fédération de l’Hospitalisation Privée) maternity wards.
“The teams are exhausted and in high demand for constant replacements due to sick leave, absence or resignations” is also specified. Striking midwives who also point to recruitment difficulties: “We are frequently called back on our guard. Our profession lacks attractiveness” denounces one of them.
“We weren’t able to join this national movement from the start because we were requisitioned by the Prefect until January 6,” explains a midwife from the Rive Gauche maternity hospital. A Prefect who could, like last November, quickly find himself forced to intervene. If the conflict continues, transfers of patients could quickly be organized from maternity wards on strike to other establishments.
“We deplore the radicalism of their movement by not responding to requisitions” regret the doctors involved in perinatal care on the Left Bank. “This disrupts the care of pregnant women, which becomes non-optimal and uncomfortable”.
For her part, Alizé Didona, midwife at the Union polyclinic, said she was waiting for a national meeting with the Federation of Private Hospitalization scheduled for January 18. “There will be talk of a job to bring our salary scale closer to that of pharmacists”. In the meantime, the strike continues.
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