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P&R wants to work with teaching unions to ensure future pay deals are settled without the need for months of negotiations, and a Tribunal.
The politician responsible for employment matters including pay said he is pleased that teachers have now been given the pay deal he had offered more than a year ago.
Deputy David Mahoney said: “As you would expect, the Policy & Resources Committee is pleased that the Tribunal confirmed our pay offer as a good one, something we were already confident about, given that all other pay groups have already accepted it.
"We are disappointed that it was not possible to reach this conclusion without the matter being referred to an Industrial Tribunal but we very much hope that we can now draw a line under this and, going forward, work collaboratively with the unions that represent teachers, lecturers and school leaders in Guernsey.”
Pictured: Advocate Michael Adkins represented the teaching unions at Monday's Tribunal, while Deputy David Mahoney represented P&R.
P&R is responsible for all employment matters within the States of Guernsey's workforce, with Deputy Mahoney taking the lead position in that area.
He approached pay deals with a blanket effect during this term of office - and all other pay groups have accepted it, albeit with some reluctance on the part of the Agenda for Change group - which includes nurses - who were also threatening strike action before accepting the three-year offer.
The offer was a 5% uplift to salaries for 2022 with a £500 payment to be consolidated into pay scales, becoming permanent and pensionable (backdated to 1 January 2022 with the applicable RPIX of 2.3%), an uplift equal to RPIX as at 30 June 2022, which was 7%, for 2023, and an uplift equal to RPIX as at 30 June 2023, minus 1% for 2024.
The unions had asked for 7% for 2022 plus the £500 uplift, and 2% above inflation for 2023 and 2024.
Yesterday they were told that was rejected and the States pay offer was enforced in a written judgment.
Pictured: The pay award given to the teachers following the Tribunal hearing yesterday.
Responding to the Tribunal's judgment, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT - The Teachers’ Union, said their members were disappointed, and that this does not mean the end of the teachers dispute with the States over their pay and conditions.
“The NASUWT is deeply disappointed that the Tribunal has ignored the clear evidence that was put before them and found entirely in favour of the States," he said.
“This decision will do nothing to resolve the collective grievance of our members, nor restore the confidence and morale of teachers.
“The Tribunal has taken at face value the flawed data submitted by the States whilst admitting that they had reached their decision without a full understanding of the Union’s position.
“The Tribunal’s judgement will not end this dispute and our dispute with the States continues.
“Deputy Mahoney’s inflammatory comment that ‘if they don’t like it, they can leave’ shows utter contempt for dedicated teachers and the States should apologise and withdraw those remarks immediately.”
Pictured: Dr Patrick Roach said the unions were "disappointed" that the Tribunal had enforced the P&R pay offer to teachers.
The Tribunal Panel - Chaired by Roy Lewis, with lay members Jamie Roussel and Nicolla Tanguy - decided to award teachers the pay deal that Policy and Resources had offered them for 2022, 2023 and 2024 saying that the matter was "...not a simple one," but that the offer "was not unreasonable" in the face of challenges facing the States.
"Against the background of the pandemic, uncertainty over the impact of Brexit, and constraints on public finance, the Tribunal also understands why in 2022 SOG favoured the adoption of a common pay policy across the public sector at large. SOG considered that its three year offer was affordable and, it accepted, would deliver a degree of stability and certainty in public finances. This general strategy was both legitimate and justifiable.
"(the teaching unions) argued that the fact that the unions representing other public sector employees had accepted the three year offer was irrelevant under the Tribunal's TOR. We disagree.
"While it is true that the pay and other circumstances of those groups inevitably differed from each other and from that of teachers, such general acceptance by the unions representing those groups suggested that SOG's offer was not unreasonable..."
Pictured: The Tribunal yesterday was held at the Peninsula Hotel. Roy Lewis (centre) chaired the Tribunal, with lay members Jamie Roussel (centre left) and Nicolla Tanguy (centre right).
The unions had argued that pay erosion since 2008 left teachers pay lagging far behind what it should be, and that teachers were being forced into relative poverty.
They said that just because other pay groups had accepted the pay offer, it didn't mean it was fair. The Tribunal panel again disagreed with the teachers, and sided with P&R, but they did also say that P&R was wrong to dismiss claims of teachers living in relative poverty.
In response to concerns raised during the Tribunal by Deputy Mahoney that the unions may still push for industrial action if the Panel decided to award the SoG pay offer to teachers, the Tribunal members included a caveat in their judgment reminding both sides the "the award is legally binding and is the final decision of the Tribunal".
P&R will have to cover the costs for holding the Tribunal but the teaching unions will have to cover the cost of preparing its case which will include any charges made by Collas Crill for the legal advice provided by Advocate Adkins.
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