Guernsey

Pensions update from the joint unions: 

All of the Joint Unions have been in discussions on changes to the States wide pension scheme. This joint unions update is an additional statement from this group for all union members.

A joint union letter to the States can be read here regarding the amendment to the Funding and Investment Plan that may have an impact on your pension.

Job matching/job evaluation

Rather than jobs being marked by the employer alone, the Agenda for Change (A4C) Pay, Terms and Conditions Group (which comprises representatives of the employer and union representatives of Prospect, the RCN, the RCM and Unite) has agreed to reintroduce a joint employer/union panel to ‘match’ A4C jobs. This ‘matching’ process will follow that contained in the NHS Job Evaluation Handbook.

This will mean that any new A4C posts created, or where a job has changed and needs to be reviewed, will be marked by a panel of 4 people.  It is anticipated that this will be two panel members from the employer, made up of HSC staff and HR representatives, and two panel members from a pool of individuals nominated by the unions with A4C Members. The union panel members do not need to be Accredited Representatives but must be nominated by the relevant union.  Preference will be given to those with experience of working in health and social care.  

Two panels will be created, and each will meet approximately once per month. In the event of a jobholder/manager not agreeing with the outcome and requesting a review, the job will be marked afresh by the other panel. The time commitment for each panel member is likely to be about 3 hours a month.  All panel members must be able to commit to two full days of initial online training and thereafter be able to agree the ongoing time commitment of three hours per month with their line manager (as paid facilities time). 

Read the Guernsey Recognition/Facilities agreement

If you are interested, please contact: berkshire.inbox@rcn.org.uk

All information and updates pertaining to the pay offer in Guernsey can be found below:

Re-opened survey on pay, the results are as follows:

On a turnout of 41%

1. Would you like the RCN the renegotiate the year 1 offer? 
YES 22.9% 
NO: 77.1% 

2. Would you like the RCN to renegotiate the year 2 offer?
YES: 23.3% 
NO: 76.7% 

3. Would you like the RCN to renegotiate the year 3 offer?
YES: 42.2% 
NO: 57.8% 

4. Do you want the RCN to purse equal work for equal pay for staff after these pay negotiations?
YES: 82% 
NO: 18% 

5. If yes, do you want us to pursue this being achieved in…
3 years: 57% 
4 years: 10% 
5 years: 15% 
Answered no to Q4: 18% 

Themes – these were very similar to before, the broad narrative is: 
Equity – this was seen across a number of areas including accommodation/housing support, T&Cs
Health/dental/medical insurance was the most commented on area
Accommodation/housing licences and who is entitled to what

• Increase in money so I can choose my own benefits
• Reduction in hours for working week
• Increased annual leave
• Flexibility for staff to work BH and use AL when you choose
• Reballot/accept offer
• Retention bonus at 2 and 4 years extended to all hard to recruit to areas
• Equal pay for all SOG staff and all on same T&Cs
• Keep the Feb bonus, don’t add it to normal pay
• Bonuses/rent allowance are discriminatory against local staff
• Allow staff in 8a roles to be able to claim overtime
• Better staffing levels
• Better fuel remuneration for community staff
• Increase bonuses
• Gym/health membership
• Focus on retention not always recruitment
• Agency spend is unsustainable and needs addressing
• Child care relief / allowance for low paid workers 
• Uplift in the mileage allowance.
• 36 hour working week.
• Protected skill mix / protected registered staff to HCA.
• Protected break periods per shift.
• Rpix plus pay award in 2026 onwards rather than a set percentage.

Please note, this doesn’t overturn the original ballot result which was a rejection on the pay offer.

We are pleased to start 2023 with the results of the survey which you received by email in December. The purpose of this survey was to hear about your priorities for pay negotiations so that, combined with the members’ working group, you could help shape the RCN’s conversation with other unions and the Industrial Disputes Officer about progressing pay talks. Queries around the ballot have been raised by individuals and we can confirm that these are being addressed. If any other members have questions they would like to raise please email guernsey.inbox@rcn.org.uk.

Please find the results of this survey below. We received an 18% response rate to the survey.

1. Would you like the RCN the renegotiate the year 1 offer? 
YES: 30.6%
NO: 69.3%

2. Would you like the RCN to renegotiate the year 2 offer?
YES: 34.7%
NO: 65.3%

3. Would you like the RCN to renegotiate the year 3 offer?
YES: 63.3%
NO: 36.7%

4. Do you want the RCN to purse equal work for equal pay for staff after these pay negotiations?
YES: 88.8%
NO: 11.2%

5. If yes, do you want us to pursue this being achieved in…
3 years: 63.3%
4 years: 7.1%
5 years: 18.4%
Answered no to Q4: 11.2%

The themes around what other T&Cs members would like:

Equity – this was seen across a number of areas including accommodation/housing support, T&Cs
Health/dental/medical insurance was the most commented on area
Accommodation/housing licences and who is entitled to what

Other:
• Increase in money so I can choose my own benefits
• Reduction in hours for working week
• Increased annual leave
• Flexibility for staff to work BH and use AL when you choose
• Re-ballot/accept offer
• Retention bonus at 2 and 4 years extended to all hard to recruit to areas
• Equal pay for all SOG staff and all on same T&Cs
• Keep the Feb bonus, don’t add it to normal pay
• Bonuses/rent allowance are discriminatory against local staff
• Allow staff in 8a roles to be able to claim overtime
• Better staffing levels
• Better fuel remuneration for community staff
• Increase bonuses
• Gym/health membership
• Focus on retention not always recruitment

At the AGM the outgoing exec team were thanked and a new team voted in (see below). Your new Branch executive was welcomed at the AGM. 

Chair - Nick Dove

Secretary - Helen Goldsmith

Treasurer - Glenda King

The Branch will get together to discuss a branch plan for 2023 and will share it with you in due course.

States of Guernsey Pay offer - re-opening of survey

As you may be aware, following the original ballot which rejected the pay offer we have hit a wall with P&R in terms of moving any discussion forward. This has been a cause of huge frustration no matter how your originally voted. Since then, the RCN launched a survey to try and ascertain members views, however only 18% of eligible members responded to this. An RCN group of members launched a separate petition asking for the matter to be bought to an EGM. You may have signed this. We are unable to act upon this but do recognise this as a way for members to vent their frustration at the slowness of the process we find ourselves in. We have asked P&R to impose the pay offer whilst pay is discussed but this has been refused. We continue to work closely with the other unions on Guernsey as part of the Agenda for Change group. All groups have met and we have agreed to re-open the RCN survey for more members to respond to if they wish.

IDO/DIDO meeting update from the AfC group

When pay talks are deadlocked, it is not unusual for the employer to decide to implement its pay offer without the agreement of the unions with whom it has been negotiating. We have recently written to the employer suggesting that they may wish to do this, while leaving the dispute ‘live’ for discussion through the Industrial Disputes Officer (IDO).  

The employer has declined to do this, so we have met with the Deputy Industrial Disputes Officer (DIDO) to restate our desire to try and resolve the dispute via negotiation. The DIDO is now taking steps to arrange a conciliation meeting between us and the employer as soon as possible. 

Dave Bourgaize (Regional Officer, Unite The Union)
Jacqueline Carr (Senior Regional Officer, Royal College of Nursing)
Stephen Langford (Negotiations Executive, Prospect)
Vicky Richards (National Officer, Royal College of Midwives)

This week the A4C group met to discuss next steps in the pay negotiations. There have been several interviews on BBC this week and members will have seen Deputy Mahoney make a statement that he will not change his offer and that there is no movement on this. The A4C group will raise this with Deputy Mahoney as to what he thinks the next steps could be, and we have reiterated that we do not need to wait for the Industrial Disputes Officer (IDO) to talk. Indeed, the purpose of the Unions is to work collaboratively with the States to achieve a pay outcome – it is not clear why the States do not want to do this.

You may also have seen on Facebook or around the wards a petition asking you to sign up to several statements. Whilst we appreciate some members are unhappy with the outcome of the ballot, the ballot remains our official outcome. This is because it is run independently and more importantly confidentially, and whilst it can be difficult for people to understand other’s points of view at times, being in a Union is about collaborative working.

We know members have not received their pay award for 2022 and the RCN is working hard to get the States to either talk, or to act. As the States is willing to do neither – perhaps they just want all members to agree with them without our input, - we have involved the IDO so we have a date when we can have a facilitated conversation. That doesn’t stop us talking now, and we would keep reiterating to the States, to get to the table and talk.

As we go forward, we are mindful of the length of time members are without a pay award, and that will filter into negotiations. But we also need to be a strong voice, and not be pushed around with these ‘do nothing till you agree’ tactics. If we were to re-ballot that would mean months of delay and the States would continue to not pay members from what we have seen so far.

Following statements in the petition we want to assure members that we are not leading members to strike. We are committed to moving the pay negotiations forward. There is plenty of information on the branch page to view around the offer.

AfC-terms-of-reference-2023 (RCN consultation document)

RCN Frequently asked questions

RCN pay award financial summary

Predictions for Guernsey inflation

RCN Presentation to members (given at 22 and 30 Aug meetings)

RCN election manifesto (2020 but contains important historic background)

AfC vs CS spreadsheet

AfC Group Terms of Reference

• Read our letter to the States in February explaining our position. We followed this up in March and you can read our letter here
• June 2022 - Read the offer letter, our response and further follow up correspondence from the States of Guernsey
• November 2022 - The joint unions have written to the IDO to move forward with the pay offer: Letter to the IDO member notification  
• December 2022 - In response to Deputy Mahoney's letter sent last week, please find a letter from joint AfC unions to members, to clarify facts on pay negotiation meetings: Cross union letter to members 20 December

• From May 2021 – December 2021 The Royal College Of Nursing along with other Trade Unions attempted to discuss pay with the States of Guernsey – no talks were forthcoming and in January 2022 The States wrote to all Trade Unions to say pay negotiations would be delayed
• Between February and May the Agenda for Change Union Group attempted to start talks with The States but these were refused and it wasn’t until the end of May that the first pay negotiation meeting was held
• The RCN stated that parity was expected as part of this offer (following on from all the work done pre-Covid) and suggested a process for managing pay parity. In early June it was made clear to the Unions that pay parity was not up for discussion as part of the pay offer
• In mid June the final offer (that you are being asked to vote on) was set out by The States. The RCN started the process to move towards a consultative ballot

Read the email sent by the States of Guernsey announcing the 2021 pay award.

You might be interested in two letters - one sent by the RCN asking about the position of Chief Nurse and the other is the response.

The RCN is committed to ensuring a Chief Nurse is in post without delay. We remain disappointed at the lack of a firm timetable to address the issue.

Read what the RCN did during the General election, what our manifesto said and who signed up to be a nursing champion.

Information about the Industrial Action process in 2020. 

The regional team would like to say a big thank you to Kenny Lloyd, who has decided to retire as the Guernsey Pay Convener. Kenny has a wealth of knowledge and skills in employment activism and around Guernsey ways of working.

He has been an absolute asset to the RCN in Guernsey, and we will miss him very much. We would like to wish Kenny all the best for his retirement. 

Jacqui Carr, Senior Regional Officer, from the South East region will continue to work with the A4C team in the T&C group and in the pay negotiations.