THE Chief Minister has defended a 7.9% pay increase for civil servants – as business leaders criticised the rise.
Speaking during a Chamber of Commerce lunch event yesterday, Deputy Kristina Moore said that ensuring salaries remained competitive was key to ensuring a ‘stable workforce’ and that the increase followed two years of pay freezes.
Last week, members of the Prospect and Unite unions – which represent around 3,500 civil servants – overwhelmingly voted in favour of the award. However, some public sector employees – including teachers – have not yet reached an agreement.
Responding to a question from former Senator Jim Perchard regarding whether it was prudent to offer the 7.9% increase across all pay groups, rather than simply the lower-earning public-sector employees, Deputy Moore said: ‘It’s not simply a matter of focusing on the lower end of the wage bracket. We are in competition, we do need to keep some of our talent. We need a stable workforce – it is about finding a balance.
‘And they have had a pay freeze for the last two years, so it’s time to catch up.’
She added that families across all sections of the workforce were feeling the pinch as a result of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
The Chief Minister also revealed that she intended to see the minimum wage increase to £12.50.
She added: ‘[Social Security Minister] Deputy [Elaine] Millar has already increased the minimum wage to £10.50 per hour. We are grateful to the Chamber of Commerce for your acceptance and engagement on this matter, including one particularly productive and swift meeting outside on Broad Street.
‘As we look forward I think we should start talking now about how this figure can rise further. An international benchmark is often set at two-thirds of average median wage – for Jersey this would be £12.50 an hour.
‘It remains my priority to get our minimum wage as close to this level as possible, and I am certainly not going to allow any slippage in the other direction. I know that this is a challenge for some business sectors, but broadly speaking I believe that most of industry is fully supportive of higher minimum wage rates and I recognise that many businesses are already paying at this level and above.’
