Under proposals announced by the States Employment Board, people employed across the public sector will be subject to one set of terms and conditions and a standardised pay scheme, meaning that all departmental policy would be the same regarding issues such as maternity leave, holidays and overtime.
The changes would see ambulance service staff receiving a 21.4 per cent increase in pensionable pay by 2020, while nurses and midwives will see a rise of 7.8 per cent during the same period.
However, St Helier Deputy Geoff Southern said that across the board the average wage rise would be 5.4 per cent – well below forecasted inflation levels.
He said this would leave public sector workers worse off and criticised the Council of Minister allowing public sector workers’ pay to slip for the past decade.
The States said that the modernisation project would have an impact on 5,100 staff – 96 per cent of whom would see an increase in pensionable pay, which does not include overtime payments, to the end of 2020.
Chief Minister Ian Gorst agreed that the average pensionable wage rise across the public sector would be 5.4 per cent but said the modernisation project would mean equal pay for an equal day’s work.
He said: ‘The average is 5.4 per cent. That means some individuals will see far greater than that and some, of course, will not.
‘The Deputy knows that some of what we are proposing is the slimming down of pay groups but just as importantly is equal pay for work of equal value.
‘That means that some people have been underpaid and they are seeing increases above the 5.4 per cent to put them on a level playing field.’
Public sector jobs have been re-evaluated according to a UK model, originally used for NHS jobs, which weights 16 work-related factors including required skills, working conditions and the level of responsibility, to assess where on the pay scale an employee should be positioned.
