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STATEMENT TO BE MADE BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATES EMPLOYMENT BOARD ON TUESDAY 4th JUNE 2019
Pay Negotiations
The States Employment Board has been working assiduously over the past months to seek a comprehensive resolution of outstanding pay disputes with public sector employees, following an approach which has twice been endorsed by this Assembly, and which is progressively producing results.
That approach has always aimed to provide fair and reasonable pay increases, which are affordable and sustainable within financial constraints, and which targeted higher pay rises to lower-paid employee groups, to resolve the legacy of unequal pay in the public service.
I am pleased that Deputy Southern has withdrawn his vote of no confidence in the Board. I hope that, in future, we can avoid the tabling of these types of propositions when we are in the middle of negotiations. In my view they are unnecessary, and whilst they generate attention from the media and other commentators, they can distract from the aim of the SEB and our negotiators to achieve a sustainable and inclusive settlement for an industrial dispute.
I want to emphasise that SEB has been flexible in its approach over the past year in response to concerns and issues raised by unions during pay negotiations.
The Board have met frequently, a total of 24 times since the New Year, to discuss what our negotiators were hearing, to consider how to respond and to give instructions to negotiators.
We made offers to doctors and hospital consultants that were all accepted. We also restructured the offer to manual workers, and that was accepted many months ago.
We listened to what the nurses and midwives had to say, and changed the structure of their pay offer in response. It was that restructured pay offer that nurses and midwives voted by a large margin to accept.
In March, Police officers accepted the offer negotiated with them.
We listened to the concerns of headteachers, and restructured our offer to them, and included a new leadership pay model for headteachers and deputy headteachers. They voted by 69% to accept this offer. That was three weeks ago.
Members will be aware that we recently made an offer to the Civil Service unions, who agreed to put this revised offer to their members, and the balloting opened last Friday.
I am also pleased to confirm that today the Board has made a revised offer to teachers, in order to seek a settlement of the 2018-2020 pay dispute and to seek to bring an end to the current industrial action.
We are already guaranteeing an above-inflation increase for 2020, and now we are going beyond that by sharing the value of any efficiencies we can identify and agree. This "gain share" approach is consistent with the offer being balloted by the Civil Service unions.
The aim is to generate sustainable efficiencies worth 1.6% of the teacher pay bill, so that half the value of these efficiencies can be given in an additional consolidated pay increase from 1 January 2020.
I consider that the offer we have made achieves the aim of a balanced agreement with the unions, meets our financial responsibilities to taxpayers, and provides an appropriate level of reward for our employees. It balances the desires of our employees with the realities of the impacts of increased expenditure upon Islanders or upon the provision of improved services.
It is my continued hope that we will be able to reach an equitable and comprehensive resolution to the 2018-20 pay negotiations.
I will report as soon as possible to this Assembly on the outcome of the offers that are presently with the unions.