Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

to think that as an experienced midwife I should earn more than a window cleaner?

328 replies

whatinthewhatnow · 13/08/2012 16:57

My mum's window cleaner charges £18 for an hour's work. I get £17. Does society really value window cleaners more than midwives?

In no way showing off, and this rarely happens, but I did dramatically save a teeny life on wednesday. It was really fricking scary. I work so hard, my women seem to really like me and I really do try so hard for them. I feel totally undervalued and stressed and I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it, for £17 a bloody hour. FFS. .

OP posts:
TroublesomeEx · 13/08/2012 17:13

Methe Exactly. You should be earning much more than that. Your job is bloody hard work.

usualsuspect · 13/08/2012 17:13

Window cleaners also lose a lot of work in the winter months,

RevoltingPeasant · 13/08/2012 17:14

Your mum is being ripped off - our window cleaner charges £10 for a whole detached house and my mum's around £8-9.

That said, yes you ought to earn more - but your pay is always depressing when you break it down hour by hour. University lecturers on fractional contracts frequently earn less than minimum wage when you break it down with all the marking, etc. Those are the people training midwives and medics!

BenedictsCumberbitch · 13/08/2012 17:15

YANBU to wish you were paid more for the work we do.
But
YABU to compare it to a window cleaner who puts in a decent days graft, has overheads and no pension and works out in all weathers.

And I say that fresh from a night shift that I left an hour late from, delivered three babies, had another labourer to hand over and two postnatals. Oh and that I didn't get a break from.

usualsuspect · 13/08/2012 17:15

Not a skilled job no, but just as important as being a Brain surgeon.

spoonsspoonsspoons · 13/08/2012 17:16

A lot of bin men are on task and finish, their hourly rate can be even higher when you look at how many hours per week they actually work.

birdsnotbees · 13/08/2012 17:16

Er... I think the OP is spot on. We don't value our health sector staff, we don't pay them enough & FFS, in terms of people who sacrifice pay & work god awful hours in often very stressful circumstances & who actually save lives - well, yes, actually, they should get paid more & valued more than a window cleaner.

It's the principle; as in, valuing our public sector. And I value it a lot. And no I don't work in the public sector.

Cabrinha · 13/08/2012 17:17

As others have pointed out, your benefits are different, and you're not providing your own materials.
Also, you get paid £18 per hour every hour. The window cleaner only gets that rate when he has a job, not for travelling time or when he hasn't a client. So his daily / weekly rate is possibly less.
He also has to do his own books - or pay someone else to.
And advertising, building his business. I presume you don't have to hand out leaflets to pregnant women, or hope that one will recommend you to a friend?
You're really not comparing like with like.

Denise34 · 13/08/2012 17:17

People are worth whatever someone is prepared to pay them. There are far more people who want to be nurses/midwives etc than want to be windowcleaners. Window cleaners don't get paid holidays, or public funded pensions.

daisydoodoo · 13/08/2012 17:19

I'm not sure about the comparison between window cleaner and midwives.
I do think that the majority of healthcare professionals should be paid more. I used to work as a midwife but due to the low pay and often anti social hours I had to leave and find a job with more regular hours in order for me to be able to afford the childcare. I miss the job but can't see me being able to afford to go back to it anytime soon.

Trills · 13/08/2012 17:19

YABVU to compare your hourly rate with what he charges as if they are equivalent.

schoolgovernor · 13/08/2012 17:19

They do get paid more than the window cleaner - when you factor in the overheads that the window cleaner has to take into account that the midwife doesn't. Maybe one needs to have been self-employed to appreciate that?
The window cleaner -
Does not have a public sector pension.
Does not earn if he doesn't work (for example if he's sick, injured or just wants time off).
Will have periods in the year when he doesn't work or earn any money at all.
Has to cover costs such as insurance, materials, fuel, vehicle maintenance.

LadyBeagleEyes · 13/08/2012 17:25

So what do you want Op?
Unskilled workers to be paid less, just to make you feel superior?
I agree that many HCP's are not paid highly enough, but that is not the window cleaner's fault.

Denise34 · 13/08/2012 17:26

Why should HCPs be paid more than they currently are?

2old2beamum · 13/08/2012 17:28

OP I was a midwife etc went to NICU I loved my job No way would you get me up a ladder or empty smelly maggoty bins, I take my hat off to them and wouldn't do their job for any money

whathasthecatdonenow · 13/08/2012 17:30

People seem to be paying an awful lot for window cleaning. £3 for the whole house here!

JumpingThroughHoops · 13/08/2012 17:31

usual that was the point I was making - everyone has a valid contribution to make to the smooth running of society.

lemonpie7 · 13/08/2012 17:34

The highest paid work I know of round here is night shifts in the sewers. And quite rightly so.

EmptyCrispPackets · 13/08/2012 17:35

I'm thinking OP is on a higher banding than me, my hourly wage per hour as a midwife is at £10.68

PuppyMonkey · 13/08/2012 17:36

The window cleaner may get £18 for an hour's work. But for all you know, he might only have one client some days. Probably none on lots of days. And his clients can just turn round and tell him not to bother on any given day. It's not £18 per hour.

ReallyTired · 13/08/2012 17:36

Self employed people have no pension, no sick pay and there are lots of overheads like self assessment. Self employed people don't have any kind of pension gold plated or otherwise. Even paying into a private pension does not guarentee a decent income in retirement.

Ofcourse midwives work hard, but it is a comparative safe job and there is slightly better job security than a window cleaner.

I think we need to think how to stop midwives feeling undervalued and stressed. However being under valued and stressed is not unique to the public sector.

lisaro · 13/08/2012 17:37

Why should you earn more? If that's what market forces allow him to command then that's what he's worth.

FartyMcTarty · 13/08/2012 17:38

Mine charges £15 for 7 windows. It takes him 15 mins and he does several houses in the same area on the same morning. I've decided it's an extravagance we can't afford.

I agree - I'd far rather the midwife delivering my baby was paid more than him.

usualsuspect · 13/08/2012 17:38

Not to mention all the chasing people for money that don't even pay half the time,I know, my DP was a window cleaner for a while.

LurkingAndLearningLovesCats · 13/08/2012 17:39

These window washers dress up as superheros whilst washing the windows of the sick children's ward at a London hospital.

Article >> www.lbc.co.uk/kids-hospital-window-cleaners-dress-as-spiderman-57515

Awesome extra photo >> topcultured.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Spiderman-Window-Cleaner.jpg

Not the point of the thread but I like to share this whenever I can.