A total of 97.3 per cent of the members of the Island branch of the National Education Union voted in favour of taking action up to and including walking out of the workplace.
The turnout for the poll was 59.2 per cent which, according to the NEU, was ‘much stronger’ than any similar ballot taken in the UK or Jersey in recent years.
The union intends to arrange a series of ‘rolling strikes’, which will move from school to school, and is liaising with other unions to finalise the plans.
NEU Jersey president Brendan Carolan said that there was ‘every possibility’ that a strike could happen before the end of January.
The union’s regional secretary Andy Woolley said: ‘This result reflects what we have been telling the SEB and its civil servants
for some time, namely that teachers are feeling the pressure of years of cumulative below-inflation pay rises and a significant lowering of their standard of living.
‘Along with other public-sector workers, we are becoming the poor relations of the Island’s economy and this is having an effect on both teacher recruitment and retention and on morale of those in post as teachers.’
He added: ‘A government
that does not value those who provide its essential services to its inhabitants, and causes their standard of living to drop year upon year, should be ashamed of itself.
‘It does a disservice to both the employees and the general public that they serve. As far as teachers are concerned, young people only have one chance at education and, if Jersey is serious about wanting a world-class education system as it claims, then it needs to pay those who provide it a proper living wage that, at the very least, keeps pace with inflation. Unfortunately the two-year deal only increases salary scales by less than the inflation rate for this year alone.’
The pay deal awarded to teachers provides them with a two per cent pay rise in 2018 and 2019, while the most recent inflation rate was 4.3 per cent.
The Island’s head teachers and civil servants have also voted in favour of strike action, and the nursing unions voted recently to reject their pay deal for 2018 and 2019.
