VIDEO: States workers are "incredibly disrespected" by their employer

Tuesday 20 September 2016

A top union official has branded the States' refusal to discuss a new pay award for around 800 civil servants as lacking in "any sense of decency."

Prospect’s regional negotiator Bob King, who held a meeting in the Royal Square today attended by around 200 members, said Jersey’s civil servants are fed up of being ignored.

The Prospect union, which represents more than 800 employees in the Island, today held a ‘lunch-out’ whereby members wouldn’t work during their midday break. 

Mr King said further action will follow unless the States are prepared to come to the negotiating table over a new pay deal. So far the union has asked for a 2.75% increase, whereas the States are offering no pay rise at all. 

He said: “It is the first action that we have taken but we have been dealing with this issue since the start of 2015. We put our pay claim in and we waited for a response. We waited and waited for months on end and when eventually we did sit down we were simply told by the States that all the money had gone, there was nothing left in the budget, so there was nothing to pay. 

“We said we would like to speak to them properly and discuss the pay of their staff and since then we have got nothing. We have asked for talks time and time again in the last 18 months and nothing - no response. 

“The pay claim originally was 2.5% but when we were told by the States that our numbers were coming down we increased it to 2.75% because the States were paying for less people, which meant our members had to work even harder. Again, we were told they had spent all their money so there was a 0% pay offer. 

“We went to mediation through the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service and their offer was the same. We were told to ballet our members. We told them we have balloted our members three times and on each occasion they have rejected the 0% offer three times by over 80% so why would we need to ballot them again? 

“There is still nothing on the table. We are meeting the Chief Executive John Richardson again, not to talk about the detail, but hopefully to try and move the process forward. We need to get them in the same room with us.” 

Mr King said the union will recommend further industrial action unless the States are prepared to negotiate a new deal. 

He said: “Next up will be a week of old fashioned ‘work to rule’ and that will affect Jersey a lot because our members start early and finish late. They do a massive amount of work they don’t need to do in their contract, but if all that stops it will have a detrimental effect on the people of Jersey. We will have no hesitation in doing that, not after this period of time. Our members feel incredibly disrespected by their employer.   

“They haven’t even had any sense of decency by turning up for a meeting with us. We are very reasonable people, but we just want a conversation with them. We have been pushed into a corner.”