Under the proposals, the States Employment Board say that 35 ambulance service staff will receive a 21.4 per cent increase in pensionable pay by 2020, while nurses and midwives will see a rise of 7.8 per cent.
However, Kenny McNeil, who represents nurses and midwives, said that cost of living rises and inflation rates have not been factored into those figures and that ‘by the time we get to 2020, we could have slipped behind again’.
He added that there were several questions, including about changes to the working week as well as changes to working unsocial hours, that had not been properly answered by the SEB before the proposed changes were unveiled.
Chris Stephenson, director of employment relations and organisation design, said the offer on the table would ‘not please everyone’ but added that it was a fair and measured approach to restructuring the public sector.
The States said that the modernisation project would have an impact on 5,100 staff – 96 per cent of whom would see an increase in pensionable pay – which does not include overtime payments – to the end of 2020.
Under the proposals of the £47 million overhaul, public sector workers will be subject to one set of terms and conditions and a standardised pay scheme, meaning things like maternity leave, holidays and overtime would be the same throughout the States workforce.
Public sector jobs have been re-evaluated according to a UK model, originally used for NHS jobs, which weights 16 work-related factors including required skills, working conditions and the level of responsibility to assess where on the pay scale an employee should be positioned.
The funding for this phase of the modernisation project has come from money set aside for public sector changes in the current Medium Term Financial Plan.
Resident child care officers could see their pensionable pay rise by an average of 22 per cent by 2020, while the 3,229 civil servants working in the public sector are set to receive an average rise of 3.3 per cent by 2020.
Mr McNeil said: ‘We need to take some time, let the nurses and midwives digest their personal statements and then we need to find out what they think and feel about it.
‘We have been in discussions with the States about getting pay equality for nurses and midwives for quite some time. It has harmed recruitment and retention rates and whether this is right or wrong we need to take our members opinions.
‘It is disappointing that it seems to have been rushed at the last minute and is getting pushed through for some reason that we haven’t been told.
‘There were ongoing discussions and questions within this package that we hadn’t finalised with the SEB and are still outstanding.’
He added that he would consult with members to gauge their views and that any prospective ballot on whether to accept the proposals was unlikely to be held before the new year.
‘We will consider a ballot arrangement once we have reached the end of the consultation,’ he said.
‘We have to look at the total package. You have to question if they are giving with one hand what are they taking away with the other.
‘These discussions have taken a long time – too long to get to a point where we still have questions.’
Mr Stephenson said that to have reached a stage with the vast majority of workers seeing an increase in their pensionable pay should be seen as a positive achievement.
He added: ‘People pick on the things that are important to them. We have had positive feedback and some negative feedback – that is expected.’
