Good news in the ongoing teacher pay row?

Friday 21 July 2023

Three days of planned school strikes have been suspended to "pursue further discussions" after a teachers' union received a "very positive" email from the States Employment Board.

The NASUWT union members are currently ‘working to rule’ by refusing to carry out additional duties, but also recently gave notice of strike action in the new school year after long-running pay talks with the Government collapsed.

However Marina Mauger, representative for the NASUWT, told Express yesterday: "We sent members a letter advising them of strike action.

"However, following protracted negotiations we received a very positive email from the SEB in relation to future developments. 

"This has caused us to today advise our members that that strike action has been suspended while we pursue further discussions."

The other teaching union, the NEU, held a one-day strike on 5 July and staged a protest in the Royal Square to coincide with the States sitting.

WATCH: Ministers were met with loud boos as they left the States Chamber during the teachers' protest in the Royal Square.

Both unions have rejected the Government’s 7.9% pay offer and are calling to address what they say has been a real-terms cut in pay during the last 15 years.

Negotiations between the unions and the SEB began in 2022. Other employee groups within the public sector – with the exception of teachers and nurses – agreed to the SEB’s offer of a 7.9% rise.

The long-running teachers’ dispute saw unions ballot members earlier in the summer term, with both the NEU and NASUWT both registering votes in favour of industrial action, including strikes.

What exactly do the teachers’ want?

The Government had offered teachers a 7.9% pay increase in line with other pay groups – but members of both the NASUWT and NEU argued that this was not enough given that pay had not risen in step with cost-of-living for many years. They said that teachers had suffered an 8.8% real-terms pay cut since 2008.

The NEU have requested a one-year pay deal of 2023 RPI + 5%. SEB Chair Constable Andy Jehan previously pointed out in a blog that this equated to 15.4%.

The NASUWT – whose members are taking action short of strike – have called on the SEB to agree the following pay awards for teachers: 

• January 2023: RPI + 5% 

• January 2024: RPI + 4% 

• January 2025: RPI + 4% 

Both sides also want to see improvements in their working conditions amid concerns about increasing workload and extracurricular activities.

WATCH: Sam Wharmby, Joint Branch and District Secretary for NEU Jersey, launched the protest earlier this month.

Results of a 2021 survey released last April showed that teachers were working on average eight weeks a year for free, and that three in five had considered leaving their jobs.

That staff survey found that teachers were working on average an extra eight weeks per year for free, and that fewer than half of staff felt well paid for what they do. 

Adrian Moss, the Joint District and Branch Secretary for the NEU, previously told Express that teachers had "run out of goodwill". 

"Teachers are paid for two thirds of the time that they work and give a third of their time for free. This has been reported in the Jersey teacher’s survey of hours actually worked to contractual hours. This lack of recognition of the actual time that teachers work has fuelled the anger over the below inflation pay rise that has been offered not only this year, but over many years since 2008," he continued.