Lecturers want record pay increase

The Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association is locked in battle with the largest union of academics in the country over a demand for a record increase in salaries for lecturers and researchers.

The Universities and Colleges Union is seeking an 8 per cent pay rise for academics, the last instalment of a 15 per cent raise over three years agreed after academics across Britain went on strike in 2006. The pay rise would be the highest granted in higher education.

The university declined comment until negotiations were complete.

However, the UCEA said the claim was “wholly unrealistic and certainly unaffordable”. The Times Higher Education supplement has revealed that some universities would struggle to offer any wage increases to their academics.

Earlier this month, Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, acknowledged the “economic realities” faced by universities, but said the union could not “let employers use this as an excuse to claw back staff gains from 2006”.

After a consultation last academic year, the UCEA plans to allow its members to opt out of national pay rises in the future. Those opting out would abide by a separate code. Warwick has chosen to commit to any changes in salaries agreed nationally.

Ms. Hunt proposed that the UCEA withdraw the plan as it “would make a mockery of national negotiations, and will lead to local bargaining with no protection for staff”.

The first round of negotiations will take place on 30th March and the second on 27th April. In case they cannot reach an agreement, the parties will meet again on 19th May.

The talks will be facilitated by Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, a government-funded body that mediates trade disputes.

Latest government figures show that, on average, academics were paid 43,360 pounds in the year to April 2008, significantly higher than the average of 40,117 pounds for all professionals and 31,323 pounds for all full-time employees. However, lecturers were paid 33,769 pounds on average.

Academics saw an increase of 35.6 per cent in their pay settlements between 2001 and 2008. This increase matches the figure for all professionals between 2001 and 2007.

“As a result of the 2006-09 pay agreement, higher education staff have enjoyed some of the best pay increases across public services and the private sector,” said the UCEA.

However, Ms. Hunt said the pay rises in academia “were opposed at every opportunity by the employers and would not have been achieved without the strong action taken by UCU members”.

She argued academics experienced “higher than average” levels of stress at the workplace, echoing her earlier sentiment that salaries had “a long way to go” before they received the salaries they deserved.