Pay offer: "divisive insult"

Tuesday 01 October 2019

The Guernsey branch of the Royal College of Nursing have reacted negatively to the latest 'insulting' pay offer from the States.

A meeting between the four unions representing the island's nurses and the States Policy & Resources Committee which deals with public sector pay negotiations, took place yesterday with another offer being made.

The negotiations were supported by the Industrial Disputes Officer, who acted as conciliator. 

P&R said 'progress' had been made, and it believed the "discussions were constructive". A revised offer was made during that meeting and the Committee said it "looks forward to hearing back formally from the unions with what is hoped will be a positive response."

However, The Royal College of Nursing have called the latest pay offer from the States “an insult.”

They've revealed that the new offer, made to union negotiators on Monday was:

• a 5% increase to all pay scales and allowances (in line with normal practice) to apply from 1 January 2019 for a one year period
• a 5% increase to all pay scales and allowances (in line with normal practice) for bands up to and including Band 7 to apply from 1 January 2020 for a one year period
• a 3% increase to all pay scales and allowances (in line with normal practice) for band above 7 to apply from 1 January 2020 for a one year period

That does not appear to have been well received by the RCN, which is the largest of the four unions representing Guernsey's nurses.

Pictured: Nurses gathered signatures on a petition backing their case, with Kenny Lloyd there when it was handed to Deputy Jane Stephens of P&R. 

Kenny Lloyd, the Royal College of Nursing Convenor for Guernsey, said:

“After 5 months of asking, we were delighted to finally get some meaningful talks arranged. The talking has been less than meaningful though and the offer is not only divisive it is insulting. Our members will see through this and within minutes of sharing the news on social media they were calling it out for splitting the higher pay bands by giving them a lesser uplift than the lower bands. After all of their efforts this is frankly insulting and I am disappointed that we can’t go back to our members with something more positive.

“I have been involved in pay negotiations for 15 years and the talks yesterday were cynical and patronising. There has been no attempt by P&R to listen to our members or to change their position. They have grossly under estimated nurses on Guernsey with this offer.

“We will of course put this to our members in a ballot and it will be up to them as to whether we accept or reject the offer. This ballot will inform our next steps.”

The other unions have not commented publicly. 

Pictured top: Nurses have been campaigning for better pay and conditions over recent weeks.