Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2018, Síða 18

Negotiations between the midwives
and the government have been
ongoing for two years, with the crux
of the disagreement centering on
low salaries and difficult working
conditions. In Iceland, midwives
require a minimum of six years
of higher education—four years
in nursing school and two years
specialised training, but their stag-
nant wages do not reflect this.
On July 1st, the crisis reached
a boiling point when 12 midwives
announced their resignation. By
July 6th, that number reached 30,
according to Brynja Ragnarsdóttir,
an obstetrician at Landspítalinn.
Most babies in Iceland are born
there, and the hospital has had
staffing issues for the past several
years.
Brynja explains that the hospi-
tal has taken drastic measures to
ensure the birth unit keeps func-
tioning during the crisis. “There has
been an emergency plan put in place
by the hospital to ensure every-
one's safety. The emergency plan
involves a shorter stay for women
and children after birth. The aim
is for women to be discharged four
hours after delivery,” she explains.
The normal length of stay after
delivery is 12-36 hours. On average
8-9 babies are born per day in Land-
spítalinn.
Potential consequences
Brynja received her training in
Scotland, and has witnessed what
happens when hospitals are under-
staffed with midwives. “If the
antenatal care is understaffed, you
have women going through their
pregnancy and you miss signs of
growth restriction because you
don't have enough midwives to
check. They develop pregnancy
complications like preeclampsia.”
Brynja cites understaffed labour
wards as a potential cause of poor
outcomes for babies and mothers
during birth, like birth asphyxia,
intrapartum deaths, and maternal
deaths. In the midst of the crisis,
more pressure has been placed
on the midwives
who conduct home
visits, as they will
now have to monitor
the health of moth-
ers and babies more
closely.
“We have women
and midwives feel-
i n g e n o u g h i s
enough. We've had
to put up with a
lot of stress and
demands at work
and we are not being
recognised as the professionals we
are,” she says. The typical work week
for Brynja is 40 hours, but now she
is working on average 48 to 50 hours
per week due to summer vacations
and the staffing crisis.
The midwives are also demand-
ing a shorter work week, so that
they have more time in between
shifts. According to Brynja, some
midwives don’t even have eleven
hours in between shifts, and many
have to work on Christmas, New
Years, and Easter. Brynja also cites
mounting evidence suggesting how
harmful night shifts are for one’s
health.
Shady figures
Last week, Morgunblaðið published
an article with the midwives’ salary
figures. The Ministry of Finance
claims that midwives working full
time are making 848.000 ISK per
month. According to Brynja this is
far from the truth. “Funnily enough,
in the morning, I was in an inter-
view with Vísir where I said some-
thing like 'I think it's strange that
the Minister of Finance is going to
be using these midwives to show
their muscle' and the same day this
came out,” she says. Brynja explains
that this number was calculated
as if a midwife would be working
on-call only during nights and
weekends, receiving extra pay. Most
midwives work only day shifts, or
mixed shifts involving day, even-
ing, and night shifts. “That was
cunning and dishonest of [Minister
of Finance] Bjarni [Benediktsson]
to put this forward because it's not
true.” Multiple midwives have made
public posts on Facebook showing
their payslips. One of the payslips
showed 338.109 ISK after taxes.
Helga Reynisdóttir, a midwife
at Landspítalinn, tells me how
unfair the situation is consider-
ing her six years of education. “I
could never live off of my salary if
I would be single. I could not rent
the cheapest apart-
ment. The ones that
are single, they have
to work 100% and
do extra jobs to be
able to stay afloat,”
she says. Helga’s
working conditions
are not easy. “For
example, here in the
shift that I'm work-
ing at I have to work
as many day shifts
as night shifts and
then I have to be
away from my kids during Christ-
mas and stuff. The salary just
doesn't add up.”
Too little, too late
Helga is heartbroken over the
government’s response to the
midwives’ demands. “It's been ten
months, and I thought we were
reasonable with our demands. It's
just sad that they have let things
come to this, and that they're
putting [us] in this situation,
midwives being on the floor with
not enough staff, and being respon-
sible either way for what happens
on the shift, and for putting women
and their partners in this position
in this really vulnerable time in
their life,” she says.
Brynja remains doubtful that
a solution is near. “Midwifery is a
wonderful profession with great
midwives. They are idealists and
really compassionate. They do
their work 100%, but they have to
be rewarded as such. We are hoping
that the settlement will be suffi-
cient to reverse this, but the damage
may be done.”
The Midwives’
Tale
The government is ignoring
their pay rise demands
Words: Juliana Iluminata Wilczynski Photo: Art Bicnick
“We are hoping
that the settle-
ment will be
sufficient to
reverse this, but
the damage may
be done.”
18 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2018
Helga Reynisdóttir, a midwife at Landsspítali.
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