Unite say the proposals to split the phone company’s infrastructure and retail arms makes no sense.
In a formal submission to the independent review on the proposed sale, Unite national officer Peter Skyte said: ‘Unite believes that the split-up of Jersey Telecom would be a drastic, disruptive and damaging move. There is every chance that splitting up JT may jeopardise the Island’s economy and reliability of telecoms service, and could lead to higher bills.
‘We cannot understand why this is even on the States’ agenda, given the current proposals submitted to the Greffe, in which evidence from the Treasury Minister as well as expert consultants came out categorically against splitting the company.’
The union say that no other telecoms business has ever been split in the same way ahead of its sale.
Questions about whether to split the firm up, as proposed by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, have fuelled the pressure on Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur to stall the planned debate on selling the company.
He told the States this week that he would make a statement by the next sitting on whether or not to go ahead with the debate next month.
Mr Skyte said: ‘We still haven’t seen any evidence that the sale of JT will benefit Jersey. It is time that ministers stop using JT as a political football and recognise the company is a success story to be proud of and keep.
‘We have called for an urgent meeting with Senator Le Sueur, the Treasury Minister and Senator Ozouf, the Economic Development Minister, to discuss the proposal but so far have heard nothing from them.’
