Nurses reject "final" pay offer from States

Wednesday 09 January 2019

Members of nurses unions have voted to reject the "final" pay offer from the States.

In a ballot that closed on Monday evening, members of the Royal College of Nursing's Jersey branch and the Jersey Nursing Association said that they would not accept the offer of a 3.1% pay rise for 2018 and a 3% for 2019.

Among voting members of the Royal College of Nursing, 62% opted to reject the offer, with 38% saying they would be willing to accept it. Turnout was 63%.

The group said that they were disappointed the offer, which had already been amended, remained below rises in the cost of living - a key sticking point across all areas of the public sector during the months-long pay row.

Pictured: "Nursing staff have had enough of being devalued by the employer," Alison Pell said.

They also said it failed to address longstanding issues relating to pay parity, which the States Employment Board had previously committed to resolving as part of a previous deal for 2012/13/14.

The Jersey Nursing Association, meanwhile, saw an even higher number of nurses reject the offer - 85.27%. Midwives, however, accepted it.

Lindsay Meeks, RCN South East Regional Director, said the fact that so many members turned out to vote "speaks volumes".

"For too long nursing pay has lagged behind their allied health professional colleagues and our members have said enough is enough. Nurses aren’t asking for the world, they are asking that their world is made comfortable to live in with a salary that befits the work and responsibility that they have."

Alison Pell, Chair of the Jersey Nursing Association, added that "nursing staff have had enough of being devalued by the employer, which this vote clearly demonstrates".

"Our members deliver high quality life saving care despite serious staffing issues and morale sapping following year after year of below inflation rises/pay cuts.

"We are told we are valued, yet promises from previous pay rounds are forgotten and we never benefit from large pay awards. There is a great deal of media interest in the new hospital but with recruitment and retention issues at a high, there will be no staff for this building if the concerns of nursing staff are not addressed. It is time to treat staff in a manner in which they can flourish; feeling valued in the work that they do. 

"To quote the employers own focus on “no health, without mental health”, there needs to be recognition that this includes their staff, who, having been continuously undervalued, have experienced an ongoing detrimental impact on both morale and mental health." 

Outlining the next steps, Ms Meeks said: “Inevitably members will want to know what happens next – the answer is that we will be contacting the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service to mediate a conversation between ourselves and the States. We are also meeting with members tomorrow [Wednesday 9 Jan] to discuss next steps including asking them if they wish to make a request to RCN Council for industrial action to be pursued. Industrial action is an absolute last resort and we need to be sure that we have exhausted all possible avenues before taking this route.”

A spokesperson for the States Employment Board commented last night that they were "disappointed" with the outcome.

"We will take time to reflect on the outcome of the ballots, and understand the implications of one union voting emphatically to accept the offer before we decide on any next steps. We will be actively engaging with the nursing unions over the coming days," they said.