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Freezing teachers' wages in 2021 is just a "race to the bottom" that benefits nobody, a trade union has said.
Gary Upton, a National Executive Member of NASUWT and District Representative for the Channel Islands, is unhappy with the decision to freeze teaching staff's salaries in 2021 as part of Policy & Resources' efforts to rein in public sector pay costs.
Pictured: Pay award decisions for the States' 15 pay groups. Many of the 2020 pay awards were agreed by the previous P&R Committee earlier this year, while the current committee broke off negotiations with multiple pay groups in January in order to focus resources on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year Policy & Resources announced that around 6,000 States employees would receive pay increases for 2020 in line with inflation. However, most States employees - including teachers and lecturers - have had their pay frozen in 2021.
It is a decision that Mr Upton thinks is unacceptable and he is considering what action to take next.
"There is a lot of talk about pay freezes and below inflation pay rises, and that isn’t to say that we don’t recognise that there are private sector business struggling, but what we do not accept is this equity of misery.
"Not supporting the public sector is not improving anyone’s lot. We do not think that a race to the bottom is an ideology we would subscribe to."
Pictured: Any 2020 pay award with an * next to it has been decided by the current Policy & Resources Committee and those without an asterisk were decided earlier in the year by the previous committee.
For 2021, Agenda for Change staff will receive a further 5% increase, while the ‘Public Sector Employees’ pay group - which includes many of the States' lowest paid staff such as manual workers - will get an inflationary increase of 2.4%.
Deputy David Mahoney, who leads on the States’ role as employer for the Policy & Resources Committee, said they had tried to balance a desire to reward employees' efforts in going "above and beyond in exceptional circumstances", with the need for "appropriate restraint regarding public sector pay costs."
"We need to recognise that as things stand currently, we are spending more than we can afford, and we cannot allow those costs to continue to rise.
“We believe we are being firm but realistic in what we’ve agreed in terms of pay. While some may be disappointed, I would hope most would understand the position in which we find ourselves."
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