Letter to Jocelyn Prudence, UCEA Chief Executive
Unite Press Release. 25 January, 2012
Unite university staff work-to-rule over ‘lousy’ pay offer
University staff, members of Unite, are working-to-rule in protest at the ‘lousy’ pay offer of £150.
Unite represents 20,000 staff – from professors to porters – at Britain’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) – and is the only union to have rejected the derisory offer of £150-a-year for all grades to run from 1 August last year for 2011/12.
Unite national officer for education, Mike Robinson said: ‘Our members voted for industrial action, short of strike action, over this lousy deal at the end of last year – and are sticking to the letter of their contracts with no working outside their contractual hours.’
‘Our members have withdrawn the goodwill and flexibility that is so vital for the running of an academic institution.’
‘The HEIs – represented by the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) – can well afford to be more generous at a time of soaring household bills for working people. For example, Imperial College, London has given its staff £500-a-year more on all scales.’
‘Unite will be boycotting future meetings with the UCEA and will be asking Shabana Mahmood, the shadow business minister not to attend a HEI strategic conference.’
In a letter to UCEA Chief Executive, Jocelyn Prudence, Mike Robinson said: ‘Unite members will also be asked to raise the profile of the low offer on pay for 2011 in their own HEIs, as publically as possible.’