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

[whatinthewhatnow]

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. .

I'm surprised midwifes earn so much I would have thought it was a £7-£8 an hour job.

bp300 ,really?

I don't understand the posters saying unskilled jobs should earn the same as skilled ones. Isn't that what happens in communist states like Russia?

If you pay everyone equally there is no incentive to study/train to a highly skilled level or to accept a position of great responsibility.

Fuck Off bp.
Awaits deletion.
But Jeez there's so many arseholes around.

Pleased to report I pay my window cleaning team £3.80 a time for my 3 bed semi. Takes them 5 minutes though. What's that per hour? (4 man team come down the street - 2 men per house: one at the front one at the back).

OP it's painful, I have sympathy. It's true there are many other benefits to full time permanent paid employment, though.

bp what planet are you on, what a prat

I pay £24 to window cleaner (maybe so much due to conservatory?) he doesn't have guaranteed work everyday. He can't work if it's raining or snowing. No sick pay. Also I think it's pretty dangerous being up a ladder which is why most people don't do it themselves. If you worked out how much he actually earns a year I think you'll find it is significantly less than you so if you look at the bigger picture YABU

The window cleaner is as important as the midwife. Window cleaning is not as important than delivering babies.

Agree with pekka. Lived in this house for ten years and never had the windows cleaned either inside or out. Can still see out.

Good way of putting it Pekka.

I remember there were protests in the late 90s by midwifes complaining that wages were to low. Looks like they must have gone up quite a bit since then.

Not really. I don't think my hourly rate is much over the 12 quid mark.

My cleaners DH is a window cleaner and he has had a terrible year because of all the rain. He has had week after week of no work.

my window cleaner charges me £6 for the whole house also my dad was a window cleaner for over 30 years sometimes had no wages due to bad weather

My window cleaner charges me £6 for about 20 minutes work. He does not clean my windows unless it is dry weather, so cloudy is fine, but raining is not.

Out of interest, all the posters who are saying midwives should earn more...how much do you think a reasonable salary for a midwife is?

thekidsrule

Of course the kp isn't seen as important, in real life people don't like to see others as important as it lowers their own standing and may hurt there egos.

I have worked though with a GM that was happy to roll up their sleeves and do a shift as a kp, when he was gm we won award after award and the place was fab to work in. Money was low but moral was high. He left and everything went back to normal I left not long after.

IME people underestimate the costs of private sector. I work in the pharmaceutical sector, but we are a contract organisation. My employer charges customers >5x my salary for me (and since they charge the same per head whatever the experience but of course pay depending on skills and experience some people will have an even greater ratio). That is because I am easy to charge for, they can see what they are getting, what is not so easy to charge for are things like consumables, heating, maintenance of equipment, support staff etc etc. Basically all our overhead costs.

The window cleaner might charge £18 but that doesn't mean he gets anywhere near that amount in 'salary'.

I agree with all of Ivykaty's posts.

I have been swithering about retraining as a midwife but this thread is scaring me! I work in an office and would take a pay cut after retraining but i felt it would be something id love and enjoy doing... looks like im wrong... That's sad.

is it really not family friendly. at the moment when kids go to school ill have to return to work full time so god knows what id do for childcare in the holidays... I thought midwife would work same hours just less days because of longer days...

I want to do something as special as a midwife.

Anyone who says its not skilled, i would like to see how you would cope trying to save a woman from bleeding out while the docs are on their way, or to save a babies life. there are many people alive now thanks to the wonderful midwives.

How many of you would telephone the council and complain if your rubbish wasn't collected for 6 weeks?

How many of you would telephone the council and complain if the head of the council resigned without a new leader to take her/his place?

as "hourly paid staff" at an FE college, I get paid £26 per hour. However, I only get paid it when there is work available and I am lucky to clear £1000 per month. Seems to be no hope of getting a permanent contract as colleges are now obsessed with talent pools and avoiding any commitment. But I chose to do it,and you chose to be a midwife. Is your job more valuable than mine? Yes, if you are in labour but you might be mightily glad of my skills if you have disillusioned teenager and I get them off the dole and into an apprenticeship.
There are lots of routes to take in this world, if you are lucky like you and I are you have choices and the ability to make the most of the education that is available to you.

without a midwife and their skill and knowledge there would maybe less window cleaners and similar about

and without teachers there would be less midwives, and for both of these to do there jobs there are many menial jobs in between - for example cleaners, if the theatre were the labouring woman goes to have a c section is dirty then she could get an infection and die

Surely as an experienced midwife you must be at least a Band 6 if not Band 7 both of these posts > £40000 if in London, about 5K less without London weighting