Cost of living soars
Friday 21st October 2011, 3:00PM BST.
Unite spokesman Nick Corbel at a previous demonstation over pay
FEARS over major clashes between unions and ministers were fuelled today when new figures revealed that the cost of living in Jersey has soared by 5.4 per cent during the last year.
The Unite union recently submitted an above-inflation pay claim for its 1,800 public sector members and warned that its workers were ready to ‘fight’ to defend their rights.
And the union’s spokesman, Nick Corbel, today warned that ‘industrial action is a possibility’ if its pay claim is rejected.
But Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean this morning urged employers not to agree to large pay claims – as it would only fuel further rises in inflation.
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I was fortunate to get a 2.5% pay rise which was cannily based on the UK figure, whilst I recognise I was lucky to get it I am still 2.9% worse off in real terms.
Some got no rise this year or last, must be a struggle.
The unions will bleat no matter what, it’s all they are capable of.
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Hope Ozouf bears this all in mind in a few
weeks when the budget comes around. There has to be some sort of give and take!!
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I have not put my rates up like many self employed in years. Unlike Nick Corbel’s members I do not enjoy the feather bedded pensions and risk free employment which his public sector employees enjoy in these hard times.
This fight for rights shows how out of touch he and they are with the poor people who pay for them.
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Is this anything to do with rising prices for our energy and food imports? And if so why do our states do nothing about it?
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So what is to blame for this – The price of Oil? unseasonable weather? Not enough apartments sold? People spending money on food instead of high value luxury items? The price of a loaf of bread being 400% more expensive than the UK?
The Answer is our own governments policies and the tax and spend culture of vultures.
Lie no 1. GST is not inflationary..
Lie no 2. GST will not rise..
Lie no 3. States will freeze and reduce headcount.
Lie no 4. States will reduce expenditure and costs.
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Get real Nick.
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Do they think they think that they are the only one struggling?
We are all on the same boat. Most of us do not get any perks with our jobs unlike them.
China said on TV yesterday that Europe should work longer hours as I believe we had too easy for too long…
They should be happy to have a job…
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Any action by Unite which results in an excessive pay rise shoudl be funded by job cutrs and immediate increase in GST, in order that these people understand the consequenses of THEIR actions.
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Alan Maclean urged employers to work to sustain their profits and whilst paying other suppliers more is OK, paying their direct labour more isn’t …
This is out of order. Unions will be loving this.
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Employers take heed. I’m currently unemployed and looking for a dealing job (stocks and shares, not drugs) due to my qualifications and experience, and the one dealing role in the island that appears to be available pays less than a labourer earns. I was earning more than that 10 years ago. Any of you banks heard of inflation?
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no doubt the states will continue to tell us all its rosey in the garden.
com- mentator is correct.
not a hope me buying any high value items , the heating wil be going on next month , and our gst food.
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Kermit, have you seen or heard the recent news on China, a child run over not once but twice and passersby just ignored as well as the two drivers. I really dont think China should be looked up to when it comes to work ethic or any other ethics.
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No competition here is to blame for this.
When 99p store started selling sliced bread some months ago the local baker who supplied the supermarkets announced they had found a way to produce cheaper bread!
Couldn’t make it up,after charging near on £2 for a loaf for years now suddenly half the price!
Not only is English bread better quality,it does.t go stale next day like the bread here.
Soon it will be impossible to live here,unless you are rolling in it.
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RPI 5.4%; Pensioners Increase 2.5%!
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(5)”The Answer is our own governments policies and the tax and spend culture of vultures.
Lie no 1. GST is not inflationary..
Lie no 2. GST will not rise..
Lie no 3. States will freeze and reduce headcount.
Lie no 4. States will reduce expenditure and costs”
These policies are the direct result of the Walker/Ozouf clan.
This island is in a very very serious finacial position now becuase of the wrong financial ploicies they have been pursuing.
They are soley responsible for our recession and inflation rate.
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why are people getting onto nick corbel.he is only looking after is workers, thats what hes paid to do isnt it. hes only trying to get the best pay rise for states workers.its not his fault states members have messed this island up.we all deserve a pay rise apart from ministers and high earners.for god sake if we didnt have unions who would we have to stop them walking all over us.us as in me and everyone else in agreement.
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dont agree with % pay rises ,When times are
difficult those at bottom of ladder should get
a decent rise and those earning a good salary
should have less,Most States departments are
usually very top heavy sure this strategy will help to balance the books
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Not everyone who works for the States is minted, at the top, there are some very well paid managers, probably way too many but don’t put the ordinary workers in the same bracket, they struggle too.
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Bella have you treid making your own bread, I don’t mean spending hours kneading and rolling, I mean with a breadnaker. I bought one ( Panasonic best make by far outlasts 10 times ) ok the initial outlay was nearly £100 but I pay 90pence for a loaf of the best bread I’ve ever tasted. It also makes pizza dough also the best pizza, plus focaccia, french bread, ciabatta and many other types.
Through overindulgence and poor planning I ran out of bread the other day and had to buy a loaf, a similiar loaf was £2.50, I can have nearly 3 for that.
Best move I ever made, takes 5 mins and you can set the timer to wake up to fresh warm bread – yummy.
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Yes Blade (15)you are correct.
Also:
1. UK sales tax (VAT) rises by 14% to 20%.
2. Jersey sales tax (GST) rises by 67% to 5%.
Inflation. Every bit helps. Ozouf out now!
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Kermit @ 7, and any others that want to slag off Nick Corbel and the unions, you can join the union yourself, doesn’t cost much and you will add to the rest of the voices saying enough is enough. It is then that those ruining the island will sit up and listen. As the saying goes, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
tj @ 16 & thorpey @ 18 well said, couldn’t agree more, the myth that the majority of States employees receive huge pay-packets stopped a decade ago, you will find states employees are trying to find jobs in the private sector these days as it is better paid, just look at the Nursing situation.
This is one of the reasons those middle income earners who don’t get the buffer of income support are struggling so much, 0% pay-rise, but the basic essentials of a roof over your head, heating and food are spiralling out of control.
So Maclean & Ozouf who are you trying to fool with your BS sitting at the top not having to count every penny, realising that you might not have enough cash to last till pay-day………………get your head out of the clouds and mix in the real circles of life, may be then you will realise how bad the situation is for the majority of real folk.
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As one of the 1,400 currently out of work I find Nick Corbel to be one of the most irritating and selfish people going right now not forgetting a few backbenchers in the States.
These people always want their cake despite the economic picture and that’s just greedy.
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@JJ
Totally agree, China is screwed up. Human rights down the drain, communist… not a nice place to be.
They are exploiting their own people, something Europe s being doing to their colonies in the last centuries.
Now you think that all the manufacturing is gone abroad, the finance is collapsing. What on earth Europe is any good for these days?
(apart from Germany)
If labor is not willing to work harder for less in order to get the industries back on track, soon we will be switching roles with China, India , Taiwan…
Why do we get paid £5/hour and they are on 50p/hour. How long that can last you reckon?
Globalization will soon get the better of us.
They now have the cash, we spent our…
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tj. is right corbel is looking after his workers.
yes he is speaking out and rene liron did before him.
he is the only one standing up for the ordinary joe or joanna.
and if unions wre not there, then the ordinary worker would be down trodden even more.
its not as if he was calling to ” occupy the royal square “
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The difference between not having a union representative and having Nick Corvel as one is similar, pay no attention to the man.
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Blade for chief Minister…..he knows the foes…
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How can the Uk have VAT at a higher rate than GST but still the Uk shopping basket is cheaper Mr Ozouz??
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Cost of living is hitting the poorer in society much more than the rich. GST has caused much of this inflation and will compound future inflation levels unless it is got rid of. If the sheeple actually looked into things properly they might realise this. However they too readily believe the hype emminating from the likes of Ozouf and co. More fool them they will learn the hard way…
As for unions without them we would still be in the dark ages. Too many are too quick to bash unions when they should be bashing those responsible for this mess both locally and internationally. All unions are doing is standing up to employers on behalf of their members.
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I’d love to see Corbel get the substantial rise he’s looking for – on the basis that there is a corresponding reduction it working numbers to pay for it – pay all means pay em 6% more – if you shed 270 jobs – to pay for it – get real Corbel !!!
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(TONY/22)
i wasnt going to write anymore but your atitude towards mr corbel. i really dont know how youve got the guts to criticize him.i guess your looking for a job,and you have no other to blame,lets forget about all the polish who come to jersey and work for peanuts.i surgest you go to an employer and tell them you will work for peanuts.then maybe when everyone else is getting more than you, it wont matter because youlle be happy youve got a job even though you carnt bloody well afford to live.youre guit happy to live in a double room all your life paying £140ish aweek then are you.would like to know tony if your local,if so i would think about blaming other people,because i really dont think mr corbel put you in that situation.
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thank you (bo@21)
i am just keeping my head above water,and i thank mr corbel for that,for getting me the pay rises.has somone said about having a cake,i would say bankers and state politicians and cival servants are more than having there cake.
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I wonder how much Mr Corbel earns? Does he have a company car, assisted mortgage or reduced rental, BUPA or similar etc. He may not have the clout of the UK leaders but I doubt his pay is vey much different from that below – especially if he keeps pointing out the cost of living here!
Sounds about the same as one of those bankers everyone keeps harping about
Quick internet search:
While the average civil servant earns £22,850 a year, Mark Serwotka, head of the PCS union which represents them, earns £111,112. The average teacher takes home £32,630 annually but NUT head NUT Christine Blower takes a salary of £124,483.
Derek Simpson of the Unite union lives in an £800,000 grace-and-favour house with his second wife while taking a salary of £120,328 from his members.
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Cathy,# 32, Nick Corbel is a local branch official, not the head of the union.
Whoever wrote what you copied from the internet (Not the Metro newspaper, by any chance?) was probably being mischievous by comparing average wages to top earnings and I consider that you are being equally michievous by quoting that excerpt and ‘doubting’ that Corbel’s pay is very much different to the examples quoted.
Perhaps, if you had left in situ the words ‘it has been revealed’, forum readers would have known instantly that the source was tabloid journalism!
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Take a long deep bow now C..O.M…..cost of living shooting up…but hey if you have a big house and a big bank roll…who cares about the little people they are just here to service the Toffs anyhow..this C.O.M. exists purely as a tool for the rich…..throw off you “Occupation” mentality Jersey…wake up you are being shafted…Yes I know the Germans taught you to be submissive and tug the forelock…but this place is your birthright and you are getting F****d over again and again….all public property has now fallen into the hands of a quango…and what do you think motivates them…”Ah yes ..let’s do good for the residents and lets us by good stewardship and moral principle do the right thing and be seen to do so by being transparent….in your dreams peeps….wake up and take your island home back…NOW as it is slipping through your fingers..Blade recently quoted Jefferson..and I offer no apologies for doing the same..John F Kennedy held a dinner at the Whitehouse for a group of the brightest minds in the country,and said”This is perhaps the assembly of the greatest intellect ever to here at one time,with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dine here alone..an awsome mind who said “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberty than standing armies if the people evr allow private banks to control the issue of their currency first by inflation then by deflation the banks and CORPORATIONS that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of ALL property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered” allowing spivs to play fast and loose collapsed the banks which we then bailed out whilst they still paid themselves bonuses with our dosh,allowing unacountable unidentifiable faceless quango members to make their mates wealthy…for a share of course.
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@Kermit
Sorry for late response, couldnt find the thread.
I was’nt sure by your initial comment whether you realised what sort of country china has become hence my reply. I probably took it out of context.
Anyway, regarding globalization. The whole basis in my opinion of globalization with regards to pooling cheaper labour abroad to do jobs such as manufacturing that were previously done in Europe is down to the greed factor. Shareholders of buisnesses want greater dividends and owner want greater profits and higher salaries etc. The way to acheive this has been to export what they can in their business to overseas countries who pay very cheap labour and have terrible human rights backgrounds. The businesses do not care generally about this providing the profits are raised. So what was maybe once a highly profitable business using local/european labour has now become even more profitable due to the greed factor. That to the detrement of the loyal workforce they probable had but were paying more to because nobody in europe can afford to work for 50p an hour. Despite the fact their business was profitable when paying £5 per hour.
I am probably not getting my point across properly so will just summarise with one word, greed.
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CATHY@32.
thats alot of money to be getting a year.and maybe something should be said about that.
but lets just take note,banker doing nothing at all to help me,or the economy and taking home that sort of pay or mr corbel.also would like to disbute civil searvant £22.850 that maybe wages what about bonuses.
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