Jersey’s 80,000 population to be canvassed on public sector cuts
5 August 2010
Jersey’s 80,000-strong population is to be asked their views –
in a move, believed to be a first in the UK - on proposals to slash
£50 million from the budget.
A coalition of unions led by Unite, the UK’s largest, will
launch the massive consultation exercise tomorrow (Friday, 6
August) by handing out the list of options in the street and by
placing the questionnaire in the island’s newspapers.
The key question being posed to Jersey’s treasury minister,
Senator Phillip Ozouf, is why is he proposing cuts of £50 million
in public services by 2013 in his comprehensive spending review,
when the island’s government has more than £500 million lodged in
the bank?
Unite regional officer for Jersey, Nick Corbel, said that he
believed that it was the first time that trade unions in the UK had
organised such a large opinion gathering exercise on the cutbacks
to public services.
He said: ”We are certain that the proposed tax increases and
cuts in public services will hit the sick and the vulnerable.
There has been no consultation with the workforce. The whole
process has been rushed and is ill-thought through.
”Ministers have failed completely to consider other options,
such as using money from the strategic reserve fund, taxing
companies that currently pay zero tax, or even raising money by
issuing public bonds, as Bermuda and Gibraltar have recently
done.”
These proposals that the unions are consulting on are:
- Suspending the proposed programme of cuts
- Guaranteeing not to raise the Goods and Services Tax (Jersey’s
equivalent of|VAT) before 2013
- Bringing forward proposals to set targets for raising business
tax revenues, especially on non-local, non-finance companies which
currently pay zero income tax
- Extending the period of reform in both service provision and
taxation changes from three-to-five years to ensure both proper
evaluation and acceptance from the public
- Using some of the £500 million strategic reserve (rainy day
fund) to cover the deficits during this five-year period, or
failing that, to borrow on the financial markets through a bond
issue.
The unions taking part in the consultation exercise are: Unite the
union; the Association of Teachers and Lecturers; the National
Union of Teachers; the National Association of Schoolmasters and
Union of Women Teachers; the Communication Workers Union; the
Jersey Prison Service Association; the Association of Dock Workers;
Connex Association; the Royal College of Nursing and the Jersey
Nurses Association.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For further information, please ring: Nick Corbel on 07797
742913 or Unite communications officer, Shaun Noble on 07768
693940
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