Teachers talk about island pay and conditions

THE first teachers' inter-island joint union conference has been taking place. Attending at Les Cotils Christian Centre were 20 teachers' representatives from Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the National Union of Teachers were all represented. 'Because we are independent of the mainland, all of us have developed our own conditions of service packages,' said NASUWT Jersey branch negotiating secretary Terry Shaw. 'One of the reasons we have called the meeting is to co-ordinate that better. We hope to learn from each other, particularly in terms of what is good practice within each island.' Karl Flint, Nut press officer for the Isle of Man, said whenever his branch suggested anything, it was always compared to the UK. 'Islands have special problems and differences which may not apply to mainland jurisdictions,' he said. In many islands, the high cost of housing was a major issue and this created difficulty with recruitment and retention of teachers. In the Isle of Man, for instance, people are issued with five-year work permits to do a particular job. After five years, they become residents. The situation is different in Guernsey and Jersey where teachers often have to leave when the five-year period is up. 'This would make the Isle of Man more attractive to teachers in terms of long-term prospects,' said Mr Shaw. The conference also discussed how islands tackled the issues of salaries, pensions and the transfer ability of pensions. Monica Ritchie, vice-president of the Gibraltar branch of the NAS/UWT, said pension transfer was not available there. People who have taught for 15 years in Gibraltar, moved away and then returned lost their pension rights. 'There are quite a number of similarities with the islands which we find positive, but they seem to have more problems with various aspects of their conditions of service than we do in Gibraltar,' she said. Mr Flint said that in certain ways islands were in a good position. 'We are each in a favourable position in that what gets enacted in the UK does not have to be followed in the islands. 'We can take what is good educationally but we can reject what we think is not in the best interests of the service.' Nut Guernsey branch spokesman Sean McManus said each island was seeking to implement good practice from elsewhere. Delegates agreed that as the conference was the first of its kind, a number of issues had been raised. There were common interests and problems between the islands and further meetings are envisaged.