New Zealand midwives are heading into a “make-or-break” pay talk meeting with the government today.
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The focus of the meeting will be on a funding model co-designed by midwives and the Ministry of Health, as part of a settlement reached when the College of Midwives dropped an earlier pay equity court challenge against the Ministry.
The College of Midwives described the settlement as a legally-binding certainty that addressed their long-standing concerns, and the government’s failure to act on it was a breach of the terms of mediation.
College chief executive Karen Guilliland has hinted at the possibility of starting new legal action over pay equity before a meeting later today with Health Minister David Clark.
Ms Guilliland told Nine to Noon the college believed it had an agreement in principle over the model and was awaiting sign-off, but had since been met with silence.
Documents released under the Official Information Act show that as far back as December last year the Health Ministry was recommending against implementing the funding model.