Teacher negotiations in jeopardy after government 'backtracking'

Monday 03 June 2019

The government has been accused of backtracking from previous agreements and attempting to “dictate” the terms of a fresh pay award to teachers in moves that have placed negotiations “in serious jeopardy”.

Unions NASUWT and the NEU wrote to their members this weekend to express their “profound dissatisfaction” at the States Employment Board’s (SEB) conduct in the latest round of wage negotiation talks, with the latter going so far as to propose further strike action in addition to the eight days held last month.

Their ire has been piqued after the SEB appeared to renege on progress made in early May when all parties agreed to consider longer school days, more inset days and fixed teaching and meeting hours in order to secure pay rises in line with the cost of living. 

Following a day of negotiations on Friday, which were not attended by the NEU, NASUWT reported that the SEB had presented a letter it intended to send to all teachers today (Monday 3 June) on the “state of play.”

Video: Teachers address crowds at a previous teacher strike. 

According to the union, the letter implied a “trade-off of terms and conditions in return for an enhanced pay award is being contemplated” – a position NASUWT said it would “never” consent to. 

“The NASUWT has been clear from the outset that no proposals will be acceptable if they lead to a deterioration of members’ terms and conditions of employment. We have maintained consistently that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” the union told members.

They added that the development threatened to “derail the whole process”, adding that it would be referred to the union’s National Action Committee and that the General Secretary would be writing to the SEB about the attempt to “mislead teachers about the issues under discussion.”

Although NASUWT said it would be meeting with the employer on 5 and 6 June, it was nonetheless clear that “the constructive atmosphere that the negotiations have been conducted in to date, has now been placed in serious jeopardy.”

The sentiments were echoed by the NEU who went a step further by urgently calling for a “viable offer of settlement” by today to avoid further strikes.

Pictured: The NEU wants the SEB to draw up a "viable" new deal by the end of the day.

Having participated in six days of discussion, the union expressed anger that a reported offer of a new pay deal did not materialise. 

NEU Regional Secretary Ian Stevenson said this had “brought the talks to breaking point.”

“During the negotiations the employer informed the NEU that in relation to the pay dispute, ‘…there was no other way,' by which was meant there was only the ‘employers way’. This suggests that for the employer, this dispute is less about negotiating with teachers but rather an attempt to dictate the terms of any pay award. It should however be clear to the SEB, that after 8 days of strike action NEU members will not be subject to the employers dictat in seeking a fair pay award,” he explained.

“The NEU meets with its members on Tuesday this week to decide how to further progress it’s aim of achieving a fair pay award and give consideration to further strike action. The NEU has scheduled further talks with the employer to start Wednesday. For there to be any prospect of reaching a settlement of this dispute the employer, after weeks of delay and prevarication, needs to bring forward a viable offer of settlement by Monday.”

Pictured: The Deputy Chair of the SEB said a higher offer is "very likely" but will have to be done in return for "sustainable savings and efficiencies."

Meanwhile the States Employment Board (SEB) has cast a different light on the negotiations. In a statement sent out this morning, the Deputy Chair of the Board, St. Ouen Constable Richard Buchanan said the SEB would be meeting today "to discuss the progress made to date," adding that it was "very likely" members would allow negotiators to make a further offer, similar to that recently made to civil servants.

He explained this would involve a higher offer, in exchange for "sustainable savings and efficiencies that strengthen educational outcomes for our children and young people."

"We are inviting teachers and their unions to work with us to identify those efficiencies which, can then be shared with teachers from 1 January 2020," Mr Buchanan said.

"As well as resolving the pay dispute and ending disruption to education, we intend that this collaborative approach, involving teachers and unions at every step of the way, will help build trust and reinforce the value that we all place in our teachers.”