If a new contract isn’t reached between BC’s Midwives Association and the province soon, there could be job action.
Saying contract negotiations are at a standstill, Vice President Kelly Hayes warns if an agreement isn’t reached by October 7th, their master agreement will be terminated.
“At that time, we would be able to move forward with other types of job action,” Hayes says. “But we want to be clear to all women in the province that midwives are still going to be there to provide midwifery, high-quality maternity care.”
Instead, Hayes says there would be some restriction in other areas, “A lot of our services are out of hospital care services,” she says. “That page at three in the morning, where we would get up to assess a woman that’s having a concern? That might be ‘we’ll meet you at the hospital’.”
Hayes notes Prince George only has six credited midwives, and that concerns her, saying communities should have better access to training.
“That’s not a lot of midwives, given the population,” she explains. “That’s part of the issue, throughout British Columbia, we have many women who are having to travel for hours in order to access maternity care.”
