The Context
On the 3rd of December, 2013, university staff belonging to the University and Colleges Union (UCU), Unison and Unite will go out on strike in protest at a proposed pay settlement put forward by the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), an organisation that represents universities in the UK. The UCEA are proposing a pay increase of just 1% for both academic and non-academic staff. Although on paper the 1% increase is a pay rise, in practice, because it is below inflation, the agreement will cut the value of staff wages.
The extent to which this pay dispute affects all of us amounts to far more than a day of missed lectures or a disrupted workplace. In recent years student fees have risen sharply; at the same time, the money the university spends on the staff supporting students has fallen. The increasing price of education and the decreasing availability of jobs are driving students to prioritise what they perceive to be in their immediate interest. In fact the interests of students and staff cannot be separated. In order to protect the quality of the university, its research and the experience of students, we must recognise that an investment in staff is an investment in students.
We invite people to sign the letter below by clicking ‘leave a comment/reply’. (If you have comments or queries about the open letter please make them here – any comments or queries made below the letter will be moved to this page, where they can be addressed by PPU and visitors to this blog.)
The Letter
Dear Professor Thrift,
We are writing to express our concern at the proposed 1% pay increase for staff at the University of Warwick. This figure is below the rate of inflation and so represents a reduction in the value of wages paid by the university.[1] We understand that this below-inflation pay deal continues a trend in the HE sector that has seen a real terms wage decrease of 13% for university workers in the past four years.[2] This devaluation of staff has taken place in a period in which the percentage of HE sector spending on teaching staff has shrunk from 58% to 55%.[3] Finally, we observe that by 2012 the University of Warwick had accumulated a surplus of £31m.[4] This suggests that the current pay settlement is neither necessary nor inevitable.
As you will be aware, the vast majority of students on taught courses at this university are expected to pay for their study. You will also be aware that the amount incoming students are expected to pay has recently risen dramatically. We are dismayed that at a time in which the university is charging more than ever before for education, it is decreasing the amount that it pays for educators and the staff that support them. An investment in staff is an investment in students.
We support union members in their demand for a fair pay settlement. We hold the University of Warwick and the UCEA responsible for the loss of earnings and contact time that will result from industrial action on the 3rd of December. We are angered that students are put in a position where they must either forego valuable contact time, or cross a picket line of their staff and peers.
We urge the university to recognise the damage its current actions are doing to itself and those that depend upon it, to respect its students and staff, and to find a pay solution that demonstrates its recognition of its primary function in society. Finally, given your position as Vice-Chancellor of this university, and given that you yourself have recently benefited from a pay increase of £42000, we urge you personally to bring your influence to bear on resolving this iniquitous situation in a fair and timely manner.[5]
Yours sincerely,
The undersigned
References
1. http://www.ucu.org.uk/6846
2. Ibid.
3. http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6810
4. https://protectthepublicuniversity.wordpress.com/the-ppu-report/
5. Ibid.
Stephen Barrell
In solidarity
Rhys Williams
Ruth Pearce
Chris Maughan
Billy Barrett
Anna Grinevich (Undergraduate, University of Warwick)
Dino Jakušić
Susannah Sillett
Kate Orlandi-Fantini
Callum Cant
Rosa Parker-Hinton
Robert King
Helena Forrester
Chris Blewitt
Dan Goss
Victor Weber
Carla Sarrouy
Luke Peter galloway, Undergraduate, University of Warwick
Matthew Liston-Jones
MEng – University of Warwick
Anna Rivers
Alexandra Morris
Charlotte Thomas
Madeleine Hodgson, MChem graduate, University of Warwick, 2012.
Caitlin Burns
Nicola Williams
Graham Wetherall
Lewis Smith
Dexter Bushell
Katja Rebmann
Lily Huggins
Sophia Yacoub
Louisa Ackermann
Michael Haddad
Alice Griggs
Robbie Foulston
Joseph Fox
Jonathon Vaughan
Helen McNamara
Alex Biancardi
Simon Walker
Anna Richardson
Sam Parr
Vedita Cowaloosur
Thomas Waterton
Andrew Russell
Reva Yunus
Susannah Phillipson
Maria Eugenia Giraudo
Hannah Seaman
Jack Copley
Christopher Hashemi
Georgia Gildea
Maggie Leung
Chris Oates. There needs to be a mechanism to hold management responsible – a good start would be to have student and staff voices on Thrift’s pay and remuneration committee. The VC is supposed to be a high moral figure for the university – how Thrift can perform this important job whilst pocketing 300k plus expenses is a joke.
Matt Pressland
Charlotte Clitherow
Alex Johnston
George Kafka
Lewis Defrates
Sophie Blyth-Bristow
Hanna Wheatley
Thomas Grimes
Jack Ross
Miguel Costa Matos
Undergraduate Social Sciences Faculty Representative
Joseph Brandim-Howson
Oskar Grzebalski
Alizée Moreau
Joe Boylan
Sophie Monk
Alix Villanueva
Zoë Duffy
Grace Holme
Nat
Rachel Warren
Yolly Chegwiden
Isobel Finn
Laura Kurlansky
James Baross
Mike Niblett
Jack Perkins
Laurie Whittaker
Connor Schwartz
Kieran Lucas
Andrew Turner
Solene van der Wielen
Eloise Raven
Polly Gregson
Jack Hazeldine (Alumni)
Lisa Tilley
Jamie Sims
Rickie Galloway
Thomas Kiley
Ellice Stevens, BA English and Theatre
James Handy
Daiva Sen
Paul Smart
Ellen Moser, UG finalist
marijn nieuwenhuis
Joseph Parker
Hari Mackinnon
Rebecca Williams
mark carrigan
Nicholas Collins
Wai Ming Loh.
Katie Caddick
Nick Lawrence
Dan Ellin
Alex Cooper
Matthew Dennis (PhD student, Department of Philosophy)
Emilie Taylor-Brown
Grace Hunt
Stephen Soanes
Hilary Williams
Gaja Maestri
Jemima Johnson
S J Bodell
Robert Fine, Emeritus Professor of Sociology
Amy Mackrill
Kate Applebaum
John Halpin
George Chester
Matthew McNeany
Joseph Doherty-Bailey
Jessica Hubbard
Collin Lieberg
Anne Möller
Edanur Yazici
Santiago Oyarzabal
George Ttoouli
Kirsty Lohman
Jamie Mackay
Mulan Hegedus
Alice Taherzadeh