Firefighters agree 2020 pay offer

Monday 21 October 2019

Members of the firefighters' union have voted to accept an above-inflation pay offer for next year, it has been announced.

A ballot of the Fire and Rescue Service Association (FRSA) shows 98% of voting members accepted the offer, which is 1.3% above last month’s inflation rate.

Statistics Jersey announced last week that inflation, as at September of this year, is 2.7%.

This means that Fire and Rescue Service staff will receive a total pay increase of 4% from the States Employment Board (SEB) - the body that oversees all employment matters within the public sector.

 Pictured: Fire and rescue staff will receive an above-inflation pay rise in 2020.

In a post on Facebook, the union thanked its members “for their patience in seeing this dispute through to the end and for casting their vote”.

They also described the 2020 offer as “fair”, but explained that it should be viewed in the context of their previous pay deals.

“Firefighters believe this offer now to be fair and goes a little way to reduce the increasing detriment from previous years of below inflation pay awards and pay freezes, be it at a surprisingly low RPI; the lowest since 2017 with an uncertain Brexit,” the post read.

The FRSA also took the opportunity to renew calls for the SEB to drop their ongoing legal battle over firefighter pensions. The Court of Appeal is currently considering the Government’s latest attempt to overturn three rulings in favour of the firefighting union made by the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal and the Royal Court.

The union states: “In demonstrating firefighters’ pragmatic approach to this ongoing dispute, we repeat our request that the States Employment Board put aside their unreasonable appeals of Firefighters’ pension claims and negotiate a fair deal for our members.”

Commenting on the agreement of the 2020 pay offer, the Vice-Chair of the SEB, Constable Richard Buchanan said: “The Government is very pleased that Fire and Rescue colleagues have accepted our 2020 pay offer with such an emphatic vote, bringing months of negotiations to a mutually-satisfactory close. 

“This follows settlements reached in recent months by nurses and midwives, police, teachers, headteachers and deputy headteachers.”