Staff Assembly calls on University to settle pay disputes

A Warwick Staff Assembly meeting has passed a motion calling for the University to use its influence to help resolve the national pay dispute.

The University is expected to do this through its influence within the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA).

Dennis Leech. Photo: Warwick Media Library

The meeting, held on Tuesday 11 February, passed the motion through a majority of 104 votes to four, with an additional 20 abstentions.

The Assembly acknowledged the University of Warwick’s financial successes, noting that the University “consistently produces healthy surpluses”.

According to the Assembly, these surpluses in the past three financial years are in excess of £70 million.

The Assembly also voiced its concerns that staff members at the University earning over £100,000 are not subject to the same pay decreases as all other staff.

Professor Dennis Leech, branch president of Warwick University and College Union, said: “The pay dispute is very damaging because the staff of universities are very angry that their pay is being kept down when we know the universities have put up fees by much more than they need to pay the costs of the courses.

“To break even the level of home/EU fees would have been about £7,800 per student on average.

“So they have made a profit of £1,200.

“That is why they have so much money in their surpluses and to pay big increases for vice chancellors and the few at the top earning over £100,000.”

Peter Dunn, spokesperson at the University, responded to the Assembly’s motion: “Most staff have seen salaries rise in real terms as the majority will have had increases of around four percent in the last year, including their base pay increase and their normal annual movement up each point of their salary scales.”

Despite concerns over national pay, the Assembly was presented with the University’s outline capital plan, which plans to invest £250 million of capital investment into the University over the next five years.

The Assembly heard that the plan will seek to invest in a range of areas including new teaching and research spaces.

The plan, dependent on the University meeting its funding goals, proposes a £4 million investment to improve centrally timetabled rooms on campus; new sports facilities; a new Humanities building and new student residences.

Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor at the University, supported the plan.

“This is a bold programme that builds on our confidence that Warwick’s success will continue to allow us to generate the income required to reinvest a quarter of a billion pounds in our campus over the next five years.”