While much of the nurses’ workforce at the rally wanted the government to budge on its 3 per cent pay offer Woodleigh was one of hundreds of midwives at the rally whose major gripe was how hospital policy considers mothers and newborn babies as one patient.
“Our main message for the government from the midwives’ point of view is we want all babies counted,” she said.
“What [the policy] actually means that midwives is that we care for up to 12 patients on the wards and we seriously feel that this is a huge concern for both the birthing parent and the baby’s safety.
“We’re seeing experienced midwives leave the profession.”
Woodleigh said when the policy is changed, experienced midwives will rejoin the profession.
Speaking outside Royal Perth Hospital ahead of the rally, mental health nurse Santhosh Thandy said nurses had been worked too hard for too long.
“We are not angry in that sense, we are frustrated because we are working too much [overtime] at the ward at the moment,” he said.
“We have no socialisation, no family life, we’re fully committed to work because we’re short staffed.”
Colleague Tahlia Osborne agreed.
“We think we deserve the 5 per cent over the two years, because we work hard,” she said.
“We’re not just sitting in an office like a lot of the politicians who want to make these deals.
“We work in mental health so we work in a dangerous environment, and we just think we deserve to be paid for the actual work that we do.”
Kirsty Hayward is a midwife of 20 years who has moved to the private sector.
She said the government’s decision to not address the rally was “an absolute joke”.
“It really shows how much disrespect the government actually has for us,” she said.
“You know, we were ‘heroes’ during the pandemic and now they can’t even come and address us themselves.”