Unions are angry as university bosses received an average pay rise which vastly exceeds current pay offer to employees.
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Unions have expressed distaste at the news that university senior managers (Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Deans, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer, and Support Directors) received a pay increase in 2008 of 5.5%. This comes after the University and College Employers Association (UCEA) this week offered higher education (HE) unions 0.3% pay rise this year. The 5.5% pay-rise in 2008 for senior managers slightly bettered the 5.3% they received in 2007.
It has also been revealed that UK university vice-chancellors received an average pay increase in 2008 of 9%. Many vice-chancellors earn more than the UK Prime-Minister.
University and College Union (UCU) general secretary, Sally Hunt, said, "when staff are being warned pay increases may lead to job redundancies, it is quite incredible and rather distasteful that vice-chancellors have enjoyed such exhorbitant pay rises."
On Monday 27 April, HE unions EIS, GMB, UCU, Unison and Unite unanimously rejected a derisory pay offer from the national HE employers of 0.3% and expressed dismay at the UCEA's refusal to assure many workers in the HE sector that they would have jobs in the near future.
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On top of the pay issues,
On top of the pay issues, UCU Salford has info on institutions that have indicated job-cuts, although up to 100 HE institutions are doing so.
"Only a few of the 100 institutions have so far made their plans public; but the
scale is substantial. At London Metropolitan University at least 550 posts, or one-quarter of the workforce, are due to be cut. At Cardiff University, more than 140 staff are to be made redundant and many courses are to be cut. Within Health Education, funding changes mean up to 500 academic staff out of 5,000 around the UK are ‘at risk’ according to the Council of Deans. At Liverpool University, eight departments out of forty five are ‘at risk’ following a restructuring review."