Teachers rally to protest 'unfair' pay

Tuesday 19 March 2019

Teachers from across seven different island secondary schools this morning gathered in Liberation Square to call for ‘fair’ pay for their work after overwhelmingly rejecting the government's latest offer.

Seven secondary schools - Grainville, Haute Vallée, Le Rocquier, Les Quennevais, Hautlieu, JCG and Victoria College - are shut for the day as members of teaching unions walk out.

The strike action comes after both the National Education Union (NEU) and NASUWT both rejected the latest pay offer put forward by the States Employment Board, which came on the eve of a previous planned protest. 

While the government, which had previously protested "there is no more money", did not revise its previous pay offer for 2018 and 2019, an above-inflation wage pledge for 2020 was bolted on. The ‘new’ offer would have seen teachers receive a rise equivalent to the inflation (RPI) rate plus 1.3% on 1 January next year.

But it was decisively rejected by education staff, with NEU Regional Secretary Andy Woolley describing the offer as "insufficient to deal with repeated years of below inflation rises".

NASUWT also rejected what they described as “an inadequate pay award” and said they would be joining their NEU colleagues in rejecting the offer, accusing the SEB of being “unreasonable”.

Parents were last week warned to make childcare arrangements while the NEU’s industrial action takes place today. While JCG will be closed, students in years 11 to 13 will be able to come to school to use its facilities for "personal study and revision".

Where schools had examinations scheduled to take place today, these will proceed as planned, unless permission has been granted by the examination board to move these exams to another day. The Youth Assembly, meanwhile, will also be going ahead as planned.

NEU members have been invited to "stand together in support" from 08:45 at Liberation Square. "Please come along and show them we are serious and we mean business!," a post on the union's Facebook page read.

This morning was the second public display by teachers. Last month, they joined hundreds of workers for the 'March for fair pay' through the streets of St. Helier, carrying signs calling for "fair pay" and stating, "You can't put children first if you put teachers last" - a spin on the government's key new policy to protect the island's young.

NASUWT members are scheduled to strike next Tuesday, 26 March.