JERSEY’s two main nursing unions have reached a pay deal with the government.
The 7.9% offer, which included extra leave and a possible free private healthcare plan, was the ‘best that could be achieved’, according to the unions.
Additional parts of the deal relate to bank holidays and annual leave, as well as a pledge to explore the introduction of a healthcare plan in 2024, which ‘could include dental, optician, overnight stay in hospital and private referrals to see clinicians’. The announcement comes after all three trade unions representing nurses and midwives in Jersey rejected an offer earlier this year.
After months of discussion, members of the Royal College of Nursing reported this afternoon that they had voted to accept a revised deal with 83% in favour.
Members of the Jersey Nursing Association also voted to accept with 79% in favour.
The JEP understands that the results of a vote among members of the Royal College of Midwives is expected imminently.
The offer was put by the government to the unions at the end of July.
In that letter, the government’s head of employment experience, Lesley Darwin, and head of employee relations Sue Bishop said that ‘any additional increase above the 7.9% consolidated offer is not affordable and would have a detrimental effect on public expenditure’.
Announcing their members’ ballot result in a statement yesterday, Ellen McNicholas, south-east regional director for the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘We are pleased that members have voted to accept an offer they feel is the best that could be achieved.
‘It is a shame it has taken nearly three quarters of the year to get an offer that members felt they could accept, but now we look forward to working with the States on achieving the non-pay elements of the offer as well as considering the options for 2024 and beyond.’
James Turner, of the JNA, said that the vote represented a ‘strong’ level of acceptance from its membership.
