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Academics fight for pay

WORKERS, APR 2006 ISSUE

On 7 March members of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (Natfhe) and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) went on strike as an opening salvo of a national campaign to improve the pay of lecturing staff in higher education. At universities across England and Wales most classes were cancelled as the action took effect and picket lines were put up.

Salaries for research staff start at £13,274 and for lecturers at £24,352. Higher education salaries have now fallen significantly behind other areas of the public sector, let alone areas of the private sector where the knowledge base of, for example, a law lecturer or an occupational health and safety lecturer might also be needed. For over 20 years vice chancellors have pleaded poverty and have relied on the fact that staff have accepted minimal pay rises without complaint. Indeed in 2004 Blair noted "the shortfall of teaching funding has badly hit the salaries of academic staff, which have shown practically no increase in real terms over two decades".

The claim
The current claim is designed to "catch up" on what has happened in the past 20 years. The joint unions have submitted a claim for a three-year period. The first stage of the claim is a rise by August 2006 equal to the average public sector rise + 4% – followed by similar average public sector rises + 3% in 2007 and 2008.

Another part of the background to the claim is the huge rise in productivity that has accompanied the slump in wages over the past three decades. Thirty years ago there were nine students to every university teacher; now there are 21, as against an average of one teacher for every 17 pupils in our schools. At one time "going to university" was synonymous with the tutorial. Now the typical environment is more likely to be the large lecture, as even those staff who contribute to the 1:21 ratio may be involved in a range of non-teaching activities to bring in other income to the university.

Another critical factor is the top-up fees, which begin this September. The vice chancellors (VCs) lobbied hard for top-up fees. Crucially they exploited low academic salaries as a way of convincing doubtful MPs. Alan Johnson, then Minister for Education, assured MPs: "University vice-chancellors tell us that in general, at least a third of that money will be put back into the salaries and conditions of the staff. That will make an enormous contribution to tackling a very serious deep seated problem".

Now that top-up fees are upon us the VCs have publicly tried to deny they ever made a pledge to plough back fees into salaries and conditions of staff. But a student journalist on the University of London Union newspaper has a transcript of a meeting attended by Alan Johnson where he confirmed that he was given that assurance by none other than Universities UK, the VCs' body which calls itself the "essential voice of all UK universities".

The VCs would also prefer less talk about their own pay. In recent years their pay has risen extraordinarily and unlike any previous trend in university history. They have had an average pay rise of 25% with many receiving "top ups" just before retirement to boost their pension. Thirty-three VCs are now paid more than the prime minister's official salary, and 18 are paid over £200,000.

The next stage
The one-day strike on 7 March was only the beginning. All union members are now involved in action "short of strike", or ASOS, which began on 8 March, involving:

Students will sit examinations and hand in assessments and will get informal feedback on their work so that they are able to learn and progress. However, as there will be no grade input, the formal process including graduation will be affected unless the dispute is resolved.

The vote in the ballot for the so-called ASOS was even greater than for the strike itself. However, managers in some universities such as Leeds Metropolitan University (see page 4) have reacted in a typically intimidatory fashion, sending out letters to all academic staff saying they will dock pay by 30% for every day that ASOS is carried out. The unions are set to immediately challenge this in the courts. Unless the universities can show exactly how much of each lecturer's time is spent on the ASOS activities it would be illegal for them to deduct a nominal amount. Also, this action is largely reversible and management would have to pay back any deductions before marks are released, should a decent pay offer be accepted in the future.

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