Brendan Carolan, president of the National Education Union in Jersey, said that last Friday revised pay awards for teachers for 2018 and 2019 were suggested during negotiations with the States Employment Board, with the two parties attempting to resolve their long-running dispute.
Members of the NEU are currently taking part in a series of strikes due to discontent at being offered pay rises that have lagged behind inflation.
Meanwhile, teachers in the NASUWT union are refusing to cover classes for absent colleagues as part of their own programme of industrial action.
Three further days of strike action are planned this week by the NEU today, tomorrow and on Thursday, with members due to gather in the Royal Square at noon today for a rally where they were due to be addressed by officials and politicians.
Mr Carolan said that the union could call off further strike action if a revised pay offer discussed with the SEB last week is formalised and put in writing.
‘We believe we have reached a position with the SEB officials negotiating with us that we can take back to members to vote upon,’ he said. ‘No offer has been formally made to us. If the offer materialising from Friday’s discussions was officially put to us we could suspend strike action while members voted. This offer has to be in writing and formal.
‘We will certainly be considering announcing further action after the half-term if there is no resolution to this dispute appearing to be likely soon.
‘The exact nature of this action is still under consideration.’
He added that there may not be enough time left to call off this week’s strikes even if a formal offer is made by the SEB within the next couple of days.
The Island’s teachers were awarded 2% pay rises for 2018 and 2019, together with 1% and 1.1% lump-sum payments for each year respectively.
More recently they were offered a guaranteed inflation-plus-1.3% pay rise for 2020 as part of a revised deal, which was also rejected by both the NASUWT and NEU.
Details of the offer the NEU claimed was proposed last week were not available at the time of writing.
The SEB declined to comment on the matter or confirm whether an offer had been discussed.
‘Talks between union and government representatives are continuing.
SEB will not be commenting while discussions continue,’ a spokeswoman said.
