A six-week class action lawsuit led by the New Zealand College of Midwives began today following a nearly decade-long battle with the Ministry of Health over pay and conditions for self-employed midwives.
Around 1500 self-employed, or community-based, midwives were expected to take part in the class action against the Government. They claim their pay has not kept up with the rising demands of the job.
The nearly decade-long dispute goes back to 2015 when the College first took the Ministry to court, accusing it of gender-based discrimination.
A settlement was reached in 2017 following mediation, but was breached again more than a year later, prompting an apology from the Ministry and a second settlement agreement.
In 2022, the College with more than 1300 midwives again took the Ministry to court, saying they were not properly paid or supported, which lead to today's class action lawsuit at Wellington's High Court that was expected to last a total of six weeks.
At a protest on the streets of Wellington today, Suzi Hulme told 1News the job had "got bigger" in the 32 years she had been a midwife.
"Now there is a lot of other things that have needed to come into it, so we do screening and lots of public health as well," she said.
Self-employed midwives made up about 40% of the profession and their salaries were set by the Crown, meaning they could not negotiate fees to cover overheads or strike.
New Zealand College of Midwives chief executive Alison Eddy said the representative body wanted midwives to be given more rights and more say as to how funding was directed.
"We've tried really hard to work with the agencies to seek resolution to get these issues progressed. Because we thought that would be a better route to do that… Going to court is a last resort."
'Fair pay is not a gift'
In court, New Zealand College of Midwives lawyer Robert Kirkness said "a clear pattern arose" in subsequent meetings and communications between the College and the Ministry.
"The New Zealand College of Midwives raised questions about why progress was not being made and the Ministry obfuscated, insisting that they were committed to the work, but not producing results," he said.
Kirkness said self employed midwives were a "vulnerable workforce" because they were not able to negotiate for pay and could not strike.
He said the Crown "repeatedly baulked" at fair pay which it saw as a "windfall".
"Fair pay is not a gift," said Kirkness.
The court was expected to hear from the Crown tomorrow and various witnesses would take the stand over the coming weeks including former Health Ministers David Clark and Ayesha Verrall and former director general of health, Sir Ashley Bloomfield.
Mothers and their babies took to the streets of Wellington today in support of the midwives' legal battle.
"I think we have an amazing system from our midwives in New Zeakand, and they definitely need more support," one said.
Another told 1News: "They're like a mother figure you know? Happy to support.”
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