‘RCN cannot understand local dispute process’
THE ROYAL College of Nursing cannot understand the process in which disputes are settled in Guernsey, a politician has said.
Policy & Resources committee member Jonathan Le Tocq was speaking in response to criticism from the RCN that the States had refused to engage in negotiations about pay.
‘The RCN will not budge and I think that largely is because they are not understanding the process Guernsey has to go through to settle a dispute like this, it is not the same as the UK and I do not think the RCN understands that.’
After negotiations between the union and the States failed, P&R lodged a formal dispute at the end of October.
This means an industrial disputes officer has six weeks to conciliate and resolve the issue before it is handed over to a third-party tribunal which would make a binding decision.
With that deadline fast approaching, a resolution is still yet to be found.
Deputy Le Tocq said the latest offer, a 5% back-dated pay to January and a further 5% back-dated to September, was very fair.
‘We fully understand the value of nurses and I think this last offer proves that because, [if accepted], the nurses would actually start the year on more pay than what they originally asked for.
‘But we cannot do it in one fell swoop as the RCN are demanding. It would cost millions more and goes well beyond our budget restraints.’
The States recognised unfairness in the public service sector in general and has been working to address discrepancies in aspects such as pay and holiday allowances across the board.
‘The longer we spend on [nurses pay], the longer it takes to sort out other problems for public service workers,’ Deputy Le Tocq said.
‘We have passed the stage where we have to meet with the RCN, the IDO chose not to bring the two sides together in certain meetings but we have had officers ready in case he did.’
RCN convenor for Guernsey Kenny Lloyd said the union understood the local disputes process. They will ballot on the latest offer, although he suspected it would be rejected much like the others, and they would then press ahead with industrial action.
In response to Deputy Le Tocq’s comment that industrial action was not a thing in Guernsey because the tribunal process does not let disputes get to that level, Mr Lloyd said: ‘Industrial action takes many forms, not just strikes, and he [Deputy Le Tocq] will just have to wait and see what happens.’
Defending claims that the States had not engaged, Mr Lloyd believed no more than two hours had been given to face-to-face negotiations in the last year between politicians and the RCN.
‘Their three offers are not “improvements”, only insignificant tweaks and frankly the way they have played games is disrespectful and rude.’
Accepting the latest offer would mean nurses would not have a pay increase in 2020, but because of compound payment would start the year on a 10.25% higher salary than the start of 2019.
