Final chance to talk before Thousands Balloted for Strike Action

Sunday 23 August 2015

The head of Jersey’s biggest Union has written to the States Employment Board to ask for an urgent meeting to avoid a full on strike ballot.

Nick Corbel, spokesman for Unite, says he has also asked them to acknowledge a failure to agree over the proposed zero percent pay award and planned compulsory redundancies and privatisation.

“We have been told by the Government that the zero percent pay offer was their final position and that allowed us to hold a consultative ballot to determine our members’ mood re pay and cuts. They came back with an overwhelming result in terms of rejecting the pay award and would, if balloted, support strike action.”

It’s not just Unite who have balloted their members, Mr Corbel is consulting with other unions in the island, “We are talking about thousands of workers if all the unions get behind this. But I want to reiterate that our intention is to make every effort to resolve our differences around the table, so at the moment the ball is with the States Employment Board.”

If agreement can’t be reached we could see strike action as early as September.

The Medium Term Financial Plan (MRFP) is due to be debated by the States in October and the unions plan to take some action around that time.

The MTFP predicts a £145million shortfall for the State’s coffers by 2019. A variety of measures have been proposed to reduce the shortfall, including cuts to pubic sector staff, as well as raising taxes.