College of Midwives chief executive Alison Eddy.
Photo: supplied
The High Court has ruled in favour of the New Zealand College of Midwives in its longstanding dispute with the Crown over pay and contracts.
The college represented nearly 1500 self-employed midwives, known as lead maternity carers (LMCs) in a class action which began in August 2024.
On Thursday, the court found the Crown had breached its contractual promise to ensure self-employed midwives receive fair and reasonable remuneration, and that its method for paying these midwives unlawfully discriminated on the basis of gender.
The government says it plans to appeal the decision.
College of Midwives chief executive Alison Eddy said Justice Cheryl Gwyn’s decision was welcome confirmation that community-based midwives had not been valued and were discriminated against by successive governments.
“We hope today’s successful Class Action decision will enable the more sustainable future for midwives and their communities we have been fighting for.”
She later told Checkpoint it had been a long, protracted process and the ruling was vindicating.
“To have such definitive statements coming from the High Court is really gratifying and actually really validates the sense that we’ve had for many years of the way we’ve been treated. It’s a great day,” she said.
“The feedback we get from midwives is they feel undervalued, disrespected, the work that they do is not understood and not valued, and that we have had no voice and no ability to convey those issues at a systemic level to get them addressed.”
Eddy said the contract model midwives worked under was dated.
“It gives us no negotiation rights and it’s creating sustainability issues and issues in the sector.
“We had a commitment in 2018 that we would have a new contract model in place by July 2020, so that’s a real concern, and that was really one of the bases for this case being taken.
“What we are seeking is the opportunity to sit down and have this discussion with politicians.”
North Canterbury LMC midwife Bex Tidball, a mother of four who has worked as an LMC for more than a decade, said the decision validated what community midwives had been saying for years.
But the judgment did not automatically deliver a new contract – that would still need to be negotiated.
“I have worked for many years underpaid and I am grateful that the court has recognised the value of the work self-employed midwives carry out,” she said.
Midwife Sheryl Wright feels heard by the judge.
Photo: Supplied
Rural LMC midwife Sheryl Wright, who had provided on-call community care for more than 22 years and supported up to 40 families annually in the northern Coromandel Peninsula, said the shortage of rural LMC midwives meant for the past four years she has worked alone, with just 10 guaranteed days off-call per year.
“These conditions are not sustainable,” she said. “I love my work and my community, but without meaningful change, we risk losing our rural midwifery services altogether.”
“I feel the judge has truly seen and heard us. This decision is a vindication of all the efforts we’ve made over many years to be properly valued,” she said.
The court also ordered the Crown to pay each of the representative plaintiffs $1000 for Bill of Rights damages for the “inherent loss of dignity” arising from the unlawful discrimination.
The Ministry of Health said it was unable to comment further while court processes were still underway, but it had made the decision to appeal the ruling.
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