Hi Nicky
Just a word about the industrial situation in New Zealand. Currently the
New Zealand College of Midwives does not have an industrial arm to argue
for awards and conditions for hospital employed midwives. It does however
have a large part to play in the negotiations at the Health funding agency
and ministry of health levels on the fee structure for maternity care and
all issues to do with self employed midwives who are half the midwives in
the country. Therefore they do in effect have an 'industrial' role but not
what Australians would view as 'industrial'. The college also offers free
legal advice on all matters midwifery for both self employed and hospital
employed midwives and student midwives who are members...which is something
that ACMI could look at for a start.
Most hospital employed midwives in New Zealand also belong to the New
Zealand Nurses Organisation for industrial clout in negotiations with
hospitals for wages and conditions. There is no reason why NZCOM could not
be the negotiating body other than there are very few people employed at
the national office and they would be run off their feet. They do however
have a huge amount of skill in negotiating salary issues. ACMI would need
to have the ability to employ skilled people to do this kind of work and
that would mean paying higher fees for membership.
Hospital employed midwives (in NZ) may also be employed on a salary without
hours of work being stipulated (a variation to the collective nurses
contract) and this was negotiated on their behalf by the Nurses
Organisation. This is potentially open to abuse by employers however as the
caseload is not attached to the salary and I am aware that the caseload
varies around the country for hospital employed midwives working in
continuity of care models...as does the salary.
The Australian situation is very different to that of New Zealand and
therefore unique strategies/solutions need to be developed.
regards Maralyn
At 01:22 PM 9/13/99 +0900, you wrote:
>We are all passionate about midwifery or we would not be on this list.
>However, there is a place for some pragmatic approaches in negotiations -
>around developing woman-centred midwifery services and 'direct entry'
>midwifery education - and that's about being political. There are good
>political (and humane) reasons also to define midwifery in a way that does
>not alienate others, in particular nurses, who are also defining their
>profession in terms of holistic, wellness centred care and autonomous
>practice - and my paper in Hobart was all about defining midwifery as
>separate from nursing so I won't go on about it here. Lack of respect for
>colleagues (and I include midwifery colleagues on this list here) can be
>offensive and hurtful. We need to be aware of the language we use when
>expressing our passion for midwifery - the language of combat 'back fires'.
>In South Australia there is no union representing midwifery other than the
>ANF. As a non-nurse I have joined the ANF because I recognise that they are
>the only body at present who are in a position of power in terms of
>negotiating wages and conditions that will enable midwives to work in the
>public service providing continuity of care/carer. Clearly there needs to
>be new awards such as an annualised salary and the ANF are the only body
>that are in a position to do this on our behalf at the moment.
>People (myself included) use the term 'industrial' rather loosely. Perhaps
>we need to separate out from workplace agreements the industrial benefits
>of a professional body that provides free professional and legal advice and
>representation at meetings with management, Nurses Boards or law courts -
>particularly where there is a potential claim of professional misconduct.
>This aspect of the industrial arm of the Royal College of Midwives in the
>UK is what motivates the members (30,000) to join and pay considerable
>subscriptions (same story in NZ I think). Perhaps we (ACMI) should consider
>investing in a team of employed people to set up and run an industrial arm
>of the College, raise the fees and promote understanding of what is on
>offer - and then maybe we would get a membership that would pay for the
>infrastructure and personnel required to run a midwifery professional body
>with 'clout'.
>Cheers
>Nicky
>Nicky Leap, Senior Research Fellow, Midwifery
>The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001
>Tel: (08) 8201 3442 Fax: (08) 8201 3410
>Home: 'Cennednyss', Summertown, SA 5141 Tel/Fax: (08) 8390 1069
>
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