Special deal for teachers rejected

TEACHERS will be treated the same as their UK counterparts and Guernsey civil servants when it comes to redundancy pay. An industrial tribunal panel yesterday refused a claim from the Negotiating Committee of Teachers and Lecturers in Guernsey that they should receive up to 22 weeks' compensation rather than the standard 20 because of the difficulties of finding another job.

Panel chairwoman Professor Lynette Harris said there were no grounds for making a different award.

NCTLG chairman Caroline Bowker said after the hearing that the committee was 'disappointed but not surprised' at the outcome.

'In particular, the age-discrimination issue has not been dealt with even though it was recognised,' she said.

Under the new agreement, teachers forced to leave will be given one week's pay for each year of service completed before the age of 40 and one-and-a-half for each year after 41, to a maximum of 20 years.

Prof. Harris said that although the formula might be discriminatory, the panel recognised an indication made during the hearing by Public Sector Remuneration Committee chief negotiator Steven Naftel that it was likely to be changed in the next two years.

Amendments to UK legislation will deal with age-discrimination issues and the changes would be introduced here, he said.

The union's claim was based on the difficulties teachers have in finding other jobs in the island, or in having to pay relocation costs to work in the UK.

'One key issue is that the nature of the job is different from many other professions,' said Andrew Warren, who presented the NCTLG's case.

He said that teachers forced to leave the job for another career would face financial difficulties.

'Our case comes down to the fact that there are going to be significantly greater financial costs to teachers than those faced by their UK counterparts,' he said.

Mr Naftel rejected claims that teachers would find it harder than others to secure alternative work.

He cited air-traffic controllers and those in the health professions or other specialist roles as examples of people who would not find it easy to get another job if made redundant.

Mr Naftel had questioned whether it made sense to introduce something different from the UK and local civil servants, who agreed redundancy terms with the former Civil Service Board less than a year ago.

He added that it had been so long since a teacher was made redundant that nobody could remember when it had happened.

Mr Naftel said it was unfortunate that talks had broken down and that the issue had reached the tribunal stage, but added that the PSRC was dealing with public funds.

'Clearly, if no redundancy takes place, then none will be used, but it is open to scrutiny,' he said.

PSRC chairman Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq welcomed the result and said he was glad the dispute was over.

'We didn't want it to go to tribunal, but it's part of the law,' he said.

'We came to the conclusion that to be fair to all public-sector groups, we couldn't give more to one than another and that has been vindicated.'

He said that teaching was a difficult job, but added that the PSRC had to be fair and be seen to be fair.

'Civil servants, teachers and nurses are all employees of the States, but are also taxpayers. We can't continue to have escalating costs and we have to have fairness,' he said.

* The union represents the island's 600 teachers and lecturers.