Prison workers oppose States’ pay freeze

Unite the Union regional officer Gareth Lowe said the prison service was disappointed with the way the matter had been announced. He added that it was important for an employer to have conversations with the elected representatives of workers because communication was fundamental to healthy industrial relations.

‘The prison service was not pleased, not just with the pay freeze, but also the employer’s lack of negotiation,’ he said.

‘There’s a process around these pay talks and it’s expected that the employer would talk to workers, even if there wasn’t any money on the table, but that didn’t take place so that was obviously a concern to those workers, and we’ll be taking that case through towards an employment tribunal.

‘They’re the only ones [negotiating under Unite] who are currently heading towards a tribunal. That’s not to say all other groups of workers have accepted, some are still in discussions about what to do, but that’s bound by confidentiality. Some groups have accepted.

‘They acknowledge that these are difficult, trying times for employers as well as employees, and that needs to be borne in mind, but there isn’t one uniform position across the island in terms of how we’re handling this. Instead, it’s going to be on a bargaining unit by bargaining unit basis.’

Within the States there are 14 different pay groups, and the prison staff is the second group to register a dispute.

The Prospect union, which negotiates on behalf of civil servants, learning support assistants, Guernsey Border Agency staff and air traffic controllers, is also heading towards a tribunal.

Only two groups of States’ employees were given rises for this year – nurses, and manual workers, which covers crane operators, sewage cart drivers, caretakers and ground staff.

In a ballot, the nurses accepted the 5% pay rise.

Policy & Resources announced at the end of last year that most public sector workers, except for nurses and manual workers, would not see a pay rise in 2021.

Its position is that the pandemic created a very difficult economic situation, and it wants the public sector to reflect the restraint it believes the private sector is showing.

Mr Lowe agreed entirely that it was a challenging time for employers and employees, and hoped that through the proper communication channels the matters could be resolved.

‘We know it’s not an easy time at the moment and we know that good employers are struggling to retain and pay workers, so there isn’t a demonisation of employers from Unite the Union whatsoever at the moment, but we do ask that employers do reach out and have those communications and negotiation.

‘If we can’t talk to the employers then industrial relations will inevitably take a turn for the worse.’