NASUWT Backs GGCA’s Call For Public Sector Salary Increment
The teachers’ union Gibraltar NASUWT says it “agrees wholeheartedly” with the GGCA’s latest media statement regarding the need for a public sector salary increment.
A statement continued: “We are as concerned as the other Unions about the Government’s non-engagement in meaningful discussions, instead choosing to bias public opinion in last week’s Viewpoint where Minister Bossano painted a bleak and frightening picture of public finances. If this is a strategy to indirectly portray the Unions and public sector workers as irresponsible and reckless in the eyes of the community for requesting to enter into honest and constructive discussions for a public sector salary increment, we feel that it may potentially damage the excellent industrial relations we have enjoyed with HM Government since 2012.
“GGCA President Wendy Cumming has alluded to consultants adding to the public sector burden. Gibraltar NASUWT would like to add to that the unnecessary 25% salary increment that the Director of Education and Advisory Service were awarded as a result of teachers receiving an average 10% salary adjustment in September 2019. The increment at the Department of Education went against the very spirit of the claim which sought to adjust teacher salaries to the runaway salaries of top earners in management and make the system more equitable. Instead, management was catapulted to six figure salaries to the combined sum of half a million pounds between them. We wonder whether this was a wise decision and good value for money in return for no extra duties or responsibilities.
“We urge HM Government to enter into discussions with the three Unions with an open mind and to be ready to consider realistic and fair strategies to achieve the public sector increment that thousands of workers expect.”
