Civil servants to protest today over pay dispute

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Civil servants in Jersey have voted to take action after accusing the States Employment Board of not engaging in meaningful negotiations on their 2015 pay award - they'll be protesting in the Royal Square at lunchtime today.

Prospect union, which represents more than 800 employees in Jersey’s civil service, has being discussing its pay claim for 2015 with the States Employment Board since mid-2014.  

In an effort to bring the issue to a close, civil servants’ representatives and the employer met at Jersey’s Advisory Conciliation Service on August 4th. 

Prospect negotiator Bob King said: “The union simply wanted to get the employer to agree to independent binding arbitration. 

“Unfortunately, the States Employment Board refused on the grounds that ‘arbitration is not an exact or predictable science and the outcome could go in favour of either side.’” 

“Representatives from Jersey’s Civil Service Association were prepared to accept a lower settlement if that was the outcome of the arbitration. But we were confident that our claim for a reasonable settlement was fair.”

Prospect members have given a clear indication that the proposed pay award for 2015-16 is unacceptable. In ballots run the vast majority supported some type of industrial action to encourage the employer to engage in real negotiation.

Mr King said: “Prospect, along with Civil Service Unite, were left with no option but to further develop and implement plans for ‘one day, one week, one month’ industrial action. 

“This will involve civil servants working to contract for specific periods. The aim is to minimise disruption to the public, but get the employer to listen.”

The ‘one day’ action will be a one-hour meeting at the Royal Square today from 12:30. 

Mr King, who will address the meeting, said: “Prospect members, along with many public sector pay groups, have had their pay frozen without negotiation. 

“With lower increases than the private sector over the past five years, they are worse off in real terms than they were in 2011."