These workers will get no pay rise at all

Monday 29th March 2010, 3:00PM BST.

From Mick Lihou.
SO the Chief Minister wants us mere manual workers to settle our pay dispute like the white collar workers have and accept the two per cent pay rise over two years.

Maybe he should step back and look at the difference in wages between a mere manual worker and a white collar worker and add that two per cent to each of their wages and see the difference.

Then consider last year’s pay freeze, when some States Members attended the Fort Regent union meeting and said they were awarded a £1,000 pay rise last year themselves.
So the Chief Minister dictates to those who put him in office and then does the opposite for States Members when it comes to a pay rise. I know it’s awarded without their say-so but did anyone see any States Member actually refuse this pay rise to help the economy? No, don’t think so.

Then we go on to States housing. I agree that Senator Le Main needs extra funding for repairs to Housing’s properties, but surely he should also have seen how people were struggling and left this 2.5% increase in people’s rents until this deficit was sorted out.

Taking our two per cent wage increase away from us before we actually get it isn’t right – and then taking another five per cent off as well. So basically those manual workers in States housing aren’t going to get a pay rise at all.

1
bella

March 29, 2010 at 3:33 pm

It,s always the same when negotiating wage increase Them at the top get what they want,the rest have to fight for every penny.
A better situation would be to award the same rise in £ instead or %.
£10,20,30 whatever,whether you be a top civil servant or a road sweeper-every-one has to live and pay bills,so why should one group get a bigger percentage than another?
Every year the gap is widening with the have and have nots with this system.

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2
joker

March 29, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Maybe Mick should step back and compare manual workers salaries, benefits and terms of employment to their equivalents in the private sector.

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3
chanchan

March 29, 2010 at 7:06 pm

Mick,

I can only suggest that you along with your fellow members do the right thing and reject this rubbish and below inflation offer. Please do not follow your white collar cousins and sell yourself short.

The Employer is trying to divide and conquer all the public sector pay groups and they already think they have the upper hand by hitting all of us public sector workers with the civil servant big stick, after they folded.

stick with it, like the firefighters, teachers and hopefully nurses, and see this through to the end.

fold now and we will all be forever chasing pay deals and improved Terms and conditions.

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4
God's Mentor

April 2, 2010 at 3:15 pm

Why should everyone get equal pay or pay rises? I’m sorry but manual workers are ten a penny on the island and therefore supply and demand means that you are more than likely to get a much worse pay packet – that is life. If you don’t like it then retrain or go to evening classes. Just doing nowt and expecting your lot to get better ain’t gonna get you anywhere.

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5
Stalin

April 4, 2010 at 11:31 pm

# 4 god’s mentor.
Wow … you’ve got some big headed opinion of yourself.
I am very grateful to the men who empty my bin , sort out the sewers , etc.
It’s idiots like you that probably dream up pay schemes to look after their own kind and try to keep true hard workers down in pay and standards.
In some cases percentages do work…..in your case you got a high percentage ‘GREED’ factor and short sightedness as to others expecting to keep track with high living costs here.
Bet you don’t put anything in charity boxes ??

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6
Tobias

April 6, 2010 at 1:31 pm

I rarely agree with the posts by Gods Mentor but in this case I would have to say that I concur completely with his sentiments at post #4.
Indeed, we’re all in a recession and only the highly-trained key workers can expect to be getting pay rises. How long does it take to learn how to empty a rubbish bin? I expect any old Joe can do the job, and as there are 1300+ people currently out of work it’s hardly surprising that they don’t get a rise. They should be grateful to still have jobs, there are plenty of others that would gladly take their place.

Certianly the chaps that empty the rubbish near where I live should be grateful – every day I see them park illegally right on the corner of Old St Johns Road whilst they have an unofficial tea-break, one of them wanders off to the nearby shop to get the tea and bacon rolls whilst the other two sit smoking next to the lorry.

For the record, I speak as someone who did work for several years as a manual worker – I did my ECDL, in my own time, and thus moved up the ladder into banking. If the manual workers are unhappy with their lot, I’d suggest doing the same.

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7
God's Mentor

April 10, 2010 at 6:17 pm

Stalin,

You know nothing about me or how I behae towards my fellow citizens – so please don’t make unfounded comments.

I stand by what I say. I wasn’t looking at it from an emotional point of view – more an economic and realistic view point.

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8
Rozel Aubin

April 11, 2010 at 7:02 pm

#6 “I did my ECDL, in my own time, and thus moved up the ladder into banking.”

Now we know how to get into banking.

Anyone seen the ECDL course? It’s an absolute joke! It was thought up to reduce the unemployment figures by putting the unemployed into the claasroom.

You could learn it yourself just using Microsoft Help. Talk about a job creation scheme.

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