Minister steps in to university pay dispute
The government has intervened in the university pay dispute and urged lecturers’ unions to put the latest offer to a ballot of their members.
Higher education minister Bill Rammell said yesterday’s final offer of a 13.1 per cent pay increase over three years was rejected by union leaders “seemingly out of hand”.
“I am extremely concerned at the impact of this dispute on students, and I strongly urge the unions to put this to their members,” he said.
The Association of University Lecturers (AUT) and Natfhe union argue that their members are entitled to be paid more, particularly given the extra money coming into higher education through top-up fees from September.
They are calling for 23 per cent over three years, although the AUT yesterday said it would accept offers for a two-year deal, until an independent review was carried out to establishing exactly how much universities could afford.
Thousands of students across the country have already had their exams disrupted in the dispute, which began in March, after the two unions called on members to stop marking exam papers.
Many students fear this will affect their job prospects, and some universities have threatened to dock lecturers’ pay if they refuse to mark papers, a move shadow higher education minister Boris Johnson backed earlier this month.
Describing it as “unthinkable and outrageous” that students’ exams might not be marked, he said that if unions persisted “in causing such uncertainty and distress among students, then it must surely be the right of universities to refuse to pay them”.
But Natfhe has warned such tough action was only strengthening members’ resolve, and pointed to yesterday’s unanimous vote among lecturers in Oxford to take continuous strike action if employers went through with their threat to cut pay.
“It is clear that employers need to understand that if the offer is not improved significantly, the situation will worsen considerably and the industrial action is likely to be escalated,” said head of universities Roger Kline.
“It is also clear from the decision by lecturers at Oxford Brookes university that members of Natfhe are simply not prepared to accept the current hard line, miserly approach by employers.”
He added: “This dispute could seriously worsen if employers do not take account of the mood of lecturers who have seen promise after promise to improve their pay broken – even despite the billions of pounds of new money entering higher education this year.”
The National Union of Students (NUS) backs the right of lecturers to take strike action, but said the current deadlock was “seriously frustrating”.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the UCEA, the body representing universities, said the unions kept moving the goal posts, in particular in the latest request for a two-year deal.
“In order to meet a key target for them we reconfigured the offer to give more money up front and meet their target of ten per cent in the first two years of the deal. We have made clear that this is only affordable within a three year time frame,” said Jocelyn Prudence.
