Today’s higher education strike began with a message of support from UNISON’s presidential team, who sent their “full support and solidarity to UNISON members working in higher education who are taking strike action for fair pay alongside their sister trade unions UCU and Unite.”
President Maureen Le Marinel was joined by vice presidents Lucia McKeever and Wendy Nichols in the message, which applauded the stand members are taking and criticised the employers offer of 1% as “inadequate” and as falling “well short of addressing years of below-inflation pay increases that have seen higher education staff pay fall in real terms by over 13%.
“The fact that the pay restraint being applied to our members has not been applied equally to senior managers and vice chancellors is a disgrace and an affront to fairness in the workplace,” continues the message.
“Since 2009, the number of staff paid over £100,000 has increased substantially, with over half of vice chancellors earning over £242,000.
“Yet over 4,000 employees are currently paid below the living wage and the national employer has refused to show leadership on this area by not recommending that all staff employed by universities either directly or indirectly are paid a decent salary that means they can live and not just exist.
“A decent pay award should be the right of every worker, not just the preserve of the higher paid.”
The message concludes: “You deserve a better standard of living for your hard work and the contribution that you make to the success of UK universities. We applaud the stand that you and your members are taking.”
Higher education pay awards currently lag behind other sectors of the economy: the average pay settlement in the UK is currently between 2-2.5% in not for profit and private sector organisations.