Bid to end teacher strikes defeated

Thursday 14 December 2023

A bid to secure £2million of funding to prevent further teacher strikes was defeated in the States Assembly yesterday, as union members gathered to protest in their ongoing pay dispute with the government.

Deputy Catherine Curtis’s amendment to the Government Plan was rejected by 32 votes to 13 yesterday afternoon.

The Reform Jersey politician was hoping to divert funds from the proposed £79.2 million Cabinet Office budget for 2024 – specifically the £41 million of the Modernisation and Digital Department – to the Education fund.

This would "fulfil the required uplift for teacher pay, allowing normal service to resume in schools", Deputy Curtis wrote in her report.

Tens of teachers on the second day of the NEU's three-day strike watched on from the public gallery as the island's politicians debated their future, while dozens staged a protest in the Royal Square.

Addressing Members in the Chamber, Deputy Curtis said: "The extra responsibility and work that teachers do has been acknowledged with extra pay to head teachers.

"Other teachers have not been adequately recognised for their workload, and their basic-wage pay has fallen over the years, leaving us with an unresolved problem of teachers' pay."

Pictured: Deputy Catherine Curtis proposed the amendment as a member of Reform Jersey.

Three-quarters of the NEU's ballot rejected the latest offer of an 8% increase from 1 January 2024, a one-off payment of £1,000 on the same date and pay rises matching inflation for 2025 and 2026.

Teachers have already received a 7.9% pay rise for 2023, backdated to 1 January this year.

On repurposing the Cabinet Office's budget to provide the required "uplift", Deputy Curtis said: "The education of our children is more important."

She stressed that teachers were asking for a 10.1% pay increase and not the 17.6% rise published in a Government advert in the JEP on Tuesday.

Deputy Curtis also referred to a response to a Freedom of Information request published earlier this week which revealed that eight temporary teachers had been hired from UK agencies at a cost of roughly £82,000 each a year to "keep our schools going", when Jersey teachers are paid on average £56,000.

"Strikes have been going on for too long, and States Members have the opportunity to bring a pragmatic and timely end to the dispute," she continued.

Pictured: Deputy Millar is now the Vice-Chair of the SEB following the resignation of Andy Jehan from his Government role.

But Deputy Elaine Millar, in her new role as Vice-Chair of the SEB, rejected Deputy Curtis's arguments.

She said: "The SEB has made a reasonable offer and has taken every reasonable step to resolve this dispute."

Teachers in the gallery shook their heads when Deputy Millar mentioned the 17.6% increase, when she refused to accept that there was a recruitment crisis and when she said that the agency worker argument was a "red herring".

Deputy Millar argued that those eight teachers represented less than 1% of a nearly 1000-strong teacher workforce in the island.

Children's and Education Minister Inna Gardiner also spoke about her ongoing work to review terms and conditions of teachers, while Chief Minister Kristina Moore, who chairs the SEB, said: "Since 2008, there has been a decline in average earnings across the board.

"This is something in these difficult economic times that we need to address as a community, which means working to bring down inflation. But that takes time."

My blog regarding the unpleasant narrative around the teaching profession being promoted by government at the moment. https://t.co/pJS5Mjhvf4

— ????Deputy Rob Ward (Reform Jersey)???? (@deputyrobward) December 4, 2023

On the other side of the divide, Deputy Rob Ward read verbatim from his blog, Deputy Tom Coles quoted Benjamin Franklin and Bill Gates, and Deputy Sam Mézec echoed once again that the teachers were being offered "a real-terms pay cut".

All members of Reform Jersey voted for the amendment, along with Deputies Mary Le Hegarat and Lyndon Farnham and Constable Kevin Lewis.