13 February 2007
The States Employment Board has acted to resolve the public sector pay deadlock by offering manual workers and teachers a further 0.35 per cent on the existing proposed increase – subject to their recommending acceptance to their members. Other pay groups yet to settle will receive a similar offer in the near future.
There will also be a cost of living rise in June 2007 based on the RPI at the end of March.
The agreement follows the States Employment Board’s (SEB) condition that if T&GWU officials returned to the negotiating table for further discussions, the SEB would withdraw its interim goodwill offer payment of 2.4 per cent in February salaries.
T&GWU representatives have been advised that the employer will take all necessary action to absorb the additional cost of the agreement, including the management of vacancies to reduce costs, and that the States will continue to look for and act on public sector inefficiencies wherever possible as part of the costs reduction programme. In return the revised offer by the States includes an assurance that there will be no cuts in manual worker jobs or compulsory redundancies specifically and directly as a result of the agreement.
Chief Minister, Senator Frank Walker, commented: ‘This dispute has run on far too long now and following further discussions with union representatives, we’ve made this new two-year offer in a concerted effort to resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction. We have made these offers subject to the unions recommending acceptance to their members so I hope and expect to see the dispute resolved as swiftly and efficiently as possible.
‘The offer is a two-year deal so if it’s accepted by all the public service pay groups, which I sincerely hope it is, there is the added advantage that we won’t be embroiled in similar discussions later this year – good news for us because we can focus on policy and service improvements, and good news for staff because they will see the extra money in their pay packets on time.’
ENDS
Note to Editors:
For more information, contact the Chief Minister, Senator Frank Walker
or Chief Executive Bill Ogley on t. 440401.
gov.je