Civil servants’ union calls for further talks with the States
The union representing the island’s civil servants has requested further negotiations with the States, after rejecting a 5% pay offer.
The single year offer was rejected by the Association of Guernsey Civil Servants yesterday.
Deputy John Gollop, who had been leading negotiations for the States, said the deal had been a fair offer, ‘especially in the current financial climate’.
The group is made up of about 1,500 government staff, and a 5% rise would have added approximately £5m. to the States wage bill.
An AGCS spokesman said it was currently awaiting a reply to the request to resume negotiations.
‘Although we acknowledge that P&R will need some time to consider their response,’ he said.
‘We are open to any suggestions they may have to resolve matters, including a multi-year deal.’
The latest inflation figure for December put the rate in Guernsey at 4.6%, but the union reiterated that the 5% pay offer was below inflation.
The union said that the States had benchmarked its offer against RPIX as at 30 June 2024, which excludes increases in mortgage interest payments, but the States has said it no longer uses RPIX for pay agreements.
‘Mindful that many of our members have mortgages, we have characterised the offer as below inflation because RPI at that time was 5.3%.’
He added that the rejection of the pay offer was based on several factors, including the 'historic erosion of civil service pay over an extended period'.
‘It is misleading to reference current or future inflation, as pay awards are designed to, at least, enable their recipients to catch up with price increases they’ve already experienced.’
He added that the use of the preceding June’s inflation as the benchmark instead of September was a relatively recent decision.
‘Interestingly, in the first two years when June was applied the December inflation rate was higher than June’s,' he said.
‘It’s therefore important to reference inflation consistently over the same 12-month period. Even where inflation is falling, prices are still rising, and Guernsey’s inflation remains comparatively higher than both the UK and Jersey.’
It is unknown how many of Guernsey’s 1,500 civil servants affected are actually members of the AGCS, a branch of the Prospect union.
The spokesman said that the nature of collective bargaining meant all civil servants were represented, irrespective of whether they were members of the union.
