Midwives in Wales have rejected a Welsh Government pay offer following a pause in planned strike action. The result follows a Royal College of Midwives (RCM) consultation on the offer, which closed yesterday.
In the two-week online consultation just under a third (32.3%) of eligible Midwife and maternity support worker (MSW) members voted, with 82% rejecting the offer and 17.79% accepting. The consultation followed a pause in planned strike action by RCM members that was set for February 7.
However, the collective response of the majority of trade unions that make up the Wales Partnership forum – which includes the RCM – is to accept the offer. The RCM will enter into further discussions with the Welsh Government for implementation of the offer and push to start pay discussions for 2023/24.
Read more: Nurses reject pay offer from Welsh Government and call for urgent talks or strike action will resume
Julie Richards, Director for Wales at the RCM said: “This was an improved offer which we believe was made in good faith by the Welsh Government to move us forward on pay, and will start to improve maternity services for staff and for women. It is clear from this result that our members remain frustrated with their level of pay, with their working conditions, and also with the lack of resources to deliver the best possible care.
"The Welsh Government have made it clear that there is no more money on the table to improve the pay offer, hidebound as they are by the money they get from the Westminster Government. The Welsh Government has committed to improve their offer if more money does come through.”
The RCM will now be taking the result to its governing Board to decide on the next steps. Following a ballot in December, RCM members overwhelmingly voted to take industrial action over pay, giving the RCM a strong mandate for industrial action in Wales.
Julie Richards said: “Ultimately the solution to this sits with the Government in Westminster. It is they who really must come forward to make more money available for pay here in Wales and across the UK. Our members work incredibly hard, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to deliver care for women, babies, and their families. They need and rightly deserve better pay and we will keep campaigning to make that a reality.”
She previously said there was a "growing crisis" in maternity services in Wales, adding: "We are losing midwives because they simply cannot sustain the incredible effort they are having to make to ensure services are safe."
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