Workers unite to fight cuts
Monday 7th June 2010, 3:00PM BST.
Group spokesman Alan Kearney: ‘We are being left out in the cold’.
STAFF associations from across the public and private sector have formed a new organisation to fight ministerial cuts.
The Jersey Council of Representatives is composed of unions and associations and says that while some cuts are necessary, staff should be involved in the discussions instead of hearing about plans in the media.
Spokesman Alan Kearney, the head of the Prison Officers Association, said that the JCR included representatives from associations for civil servants, teachers, firefighters and nurses and expected to take on postal and communication workers soon.
Ministers have just announced a £12 million cuts package for next year which would see 67 States jobs lost, but the follow-up cuts in 2012 and 2013 will be more drastic.
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We should have thought of this in the banking sector when we were told that massive redundancise were imminent. We should have insisted that we be involved in choosing who was to be made redundant and who would keep their jobs.
Mind you if we’d tried we’d be facing constructive dismissal with no redundancy payment, tail wagging the dog?
Times are hard and tough choices have to be made, cuts are inevitable and jobs will be lost. Be thankful that you are getting redundancy payment, many do not.Seems to me an opportunity to trim the fat and get rid of the lead swingers. If you are any good at your job you will likely retain it and if not will remain employable, the slackers however…
BTW if the states had wanted to save £12 million wouldn’t shelving the unnecessary works to the avenue have done just that.
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“STAFF associations from across the public and private sector ”
“included representatives from associations for civil servants, teachers, firefighters and nurses and expected to take on postal and communication workers soon.”
So in fact it is just the states unions then no surprise there!! Just not prepared to accept any cuts at all as always. We must bring in better union laws asap. I am sick of being held to ransom by states unions. We vote in our politicians but they get threaten by the unions who only represent a small minority of the population.
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Public spending most definitely needs cutting…but not piffling amounts like school milk patient transport,and taking it out on old age pensioners…no it is the ridiculous capital projects…sixty million or so to make another connecting road for the calamatous incinerator project,civil servants @ 4 for a million quid for 12 months..and there are way too many of them..fiscal stimuli £44 million.most of which seems to be going to outside contractors…..performance related pay would go a long way to saving huge amounts…also weeding out unneeded staff,the idea of not being sacked from a States job is economic madness..these unions need to be seen to be responsible and not disconnected from reality… also disband the quangos.Cameron was on it like a shot for he knows their poor performance and their high cost as they hemorrhage money faster than the B.P oil rig in the gulf.
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I to am wondering where the PRIVATE sector support is coming from. Surely Mr Kearney is not pretending that postal or telecom departments are in the PRIVATE sector.
I do however agree that the front line staff employed by the states should have a strong voice in determining where the man-power cuts should fall.The people who do the real work know where all the FAT is.
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@Stan Dinstill
If only it was the case that it’ll be the slackers who’ll go! More likely is that there’ll be good, hard working people losing jobs, while fat cats and those who know the right people will remain.
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tom h, no one is holding anyone to ransom, it’s a shame people can’t read articles properly. There is definately fat to be trimmed, but as always, it will be the people who get their hands dirty, not the many ‘suits’, who are top heavy within the public sector.
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“staff should be involved in the discussions”
and they will be as the departments involved will need to be consulted. This is a legal requirement.
What he is really saying is “Unions should be involved” Sacrebleu!!
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What I want to know is why is there somebody being paid almost a quarter of a million pounds and they aren’t cutting his unnecessarily huge salary instead of completely cutting others jobs?
I smell injustice.
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It is unfortunate but it is a fact of life that you can not have something that you simply cannot afford. The whole world is in a state of recession and as we have seen with the worlds major government’s public spending has had to be cut… as unpleasant as it is.
David Cameron has outlined the depth of the cuts needed to stave off the UK from bankruptcy and unless the unions and its members have been living in a bubble over the past few years Jersey is not far behind.
States spending needs to be cut… it is simply out of control…. but this has to happen from the top… not the bottom. Jersey needs to rid it’s self of the Quango’s that are bleeding our coffers dry and the highly paid people that are running them. Steven Izzat at 287K springs to mind.
The unions must be realistic and accept the fact that it is the taxpayer that pays their wages and will once again be hit by higher taxes to pay for any increase that they get. The increase in present taxation is unsustainable and will eventually lead to another recession much more severe than the present one we are already in.
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@ thorpey
If unions say they will strike unless they get what they want as per the teachers they are holding us to ransom.
In this article they are saying the unions want to work together to “fight” cuts so how will they do this by coming together and for calling strikes if they don’t get what they want. That is holding us to ransom. I am sick of it. I voted for politicians to cut back on spending as did the majority of people hence at last we are getting cuts from the elected politicians. The unions have no right to try and force their will on us all.
Companies are not allowed monopolies to stop them holding customers to ransom (apart from states own monopolies like Jersey Post) Why do we allow monopolies of workers in the form of Unions and now they are trying to get a super union. This has to be banned as it is in the UK
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Definitely not definately.
States workers = job for life.
Why do public sector employees think they are untouchable in todays economic downturn??
Remember who pays your wages!
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How the coalition are going about their cuts; by consulting the public first. States take note…this is the true function of a ‘democracy’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10261136.stm
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Even on mainland, chair of nhs is paid more than prime minister and cuts are being made to cancer wards etc etc .what a sick little society.
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well the people need to stand up and be counted jersey post are crying poverty and have just paid there 4 directors just under £80000 pound yes £80000 amazing 100% true not bad for what they say is there worse finacial year
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#4 Martin
Jersey Post and Jersey Telecom are no longer states departments, JT haven’t been for some time. The job losses at both companies shows they are run as private enterprises, dealing with business as required, and not in puffy fairy land the civil service live in. However, it is always the workers and never the failing senior management who take the fall. I don’t think you could call Gary Whipp’s departure from JP news, as he is a multi millionaire in his own right, who was gambling with our money.
Fair play to them for fighting their corner, but they have to accept that times are changing. My only concern is that with all this redundancy, we are going to have a welfare culture booming in Jersey. Some people will hate being out of work, while others, will be happy for those with jobs, to be axed to the eyeballs to keep them in joyful unemployment!
This island is prostituted for the finance industry, nothing else matters. We need the opportunity to vote for our chief minister, Alan Breckon would get my vote.
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The cynicism is breathtaking, but this is the last Hurrah of the fat cats! Those seemly corrupt politicians and civil servants they have once again muddy the waters and placed the blame on the workers demands for the right to negotiate and to prevent the erosion of the workers terms and conditions of service. No accountability other than the six year elections for the politicians. After that it’s laughs all round and snouts back in the trough for the next six years! Remember their snouts are so deep in the trough we can’t see their curly little tails.
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15, George.
I want to clear one point up, this is Jersey Telecoms and Jersey Post being states owned, both the companies are still under the holdings of the states of Jersey, this means the States own the highest amount of shares possible, They are still in charge of all the financial issues, they use a chair person to run the company for them for competition reasons and tax liability.
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Lets be having the public sector workers pensions so they can live on the state pension scheme like the rest of us.
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16 Jase remember we do have a choice at election time. If you feel that strongly you can always stand yourself! Jersey has no choice either to to cut cost including staff or face higher taxes. It is that simple.
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Who do you all think you are, I am a States worker who is very committed to providing an efficent service to you, yes the great Jersey public, but let me remind you all that comment “who pays your wages”, I can assume you all mean the Tax payer?, guess what? us States workers do pay tax too!! I am not niave to think that there is some fat to trim? but the days of working in the states and not do, anything are gone, take some of the services away we provide and see how much you moan then!!.
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