Prison officers are latest to reject States’ 5% pay offer

They turned down a two-year deal, for an immediate increase of 5% and a further uplift next year in line with RPIX, which measures inflation excluding mortgage interest payments.

Talks between their union, Unite, and the Policy & Resources Committee are due to resume on Monday next week.

Unite’s new regional officer Laura Bichard said yesterday that ‘offers received from the employer have fallen short of the pay claims of our members’.

She also expressed frustration at the States’ approach to talks with several other pay groups represented by Unite, including manual workers and fire fighters.

‘Pay negotiations for the various groups represented by Unite the Union have not progressed as quickly as we would have liked,’ she said.

‘Sadly, on two occasions now, we have had negotiations cancelled at short notice, despite these meetings having been arranged based on the employer’s availability.

‘We are yet to reach a point in negotiations where offers for both the Guernsey Fire & Rescue Service and public service employees have been tabled.’

However, a ballot was opened yesterday on an undisclosed pay offer made to airport fire fighters, who are also represented by Unite.

Ms Bichard said that P&R made a verbal offer to airport fire fighters on 28 November but the ballot was delayed by the offer not being made in writing for a further two months.

The States is facing increasing pressure on its attempts to keep pay increases below RPI, which measures inflation including mortgage interest payments.

The rate of inflation was 5.3% last June, a key date in pay negotiations, whereas RPIX was 4.5%.

A one-year deal for a 5% uplift was defeated last week in a ballot of members of Prospect, which includes civil servants, air traffic controllers, customs officers and learning support assistants.

The island’s largest teachers’ union declined last month to commit publicly to balloting its members on an offer which was known to fall well short of their expectations, and indicated it wished to continue negotiations.

Health service staff on ‘agenda for change’ contracts are the only public sector employees known to have accepted the States’ pay offer. The staff involved in that deal are represented by four different unions – Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives, Prospect and Unite. They received a 5% uplift in their January pay packets.

The public sector’s previous three-year pay deal ended on 31 December 2024. Staff groups yet to reach a new agreement have received no increase since January last year.

‘Members can expect no delay from Unite in presenting and balloting on any pay offer from the employer,’ said Ms Bichard.

‘The timeframe for when an agreed increase will be applied to members’ pay is very much determined by when the employer is able to continue negotiations and provide a formal offer.’

Most unions submitted claims in April or May last year. But negotiations with most pay groups were not started by P&R until the autumn.

Several union leaders have privately expressed dissatisfaction with the limited opportunity they were given to talk directly to members of the senior committee.

P&R member Deputy John Gollop, who is leading pay talks with unions representing more than 5,000 public sector workers, said just before Christmas that ‘current financial challenges’ were influencing negotiations but he hoped a new deal could be finalised ‘in the next month or so’.

The senior committee has declined to say anything further since it started formalising pay offers and asking unions to ballot their members, though it did express disappointment at Prospect’s rejection of the pay offer.