Employers fall well short with new offer

Earlier in January UCEA had offered pay rises of between 4-5%, with some lower salaried roles receiving more, and with a portion paid in February rather than August. This offer had been rejected by the joint unions.

Yesterday, the employers made a marginally improved offer, but which is still well below inflation and does nothing for years of pay degradation. 

Employers have still yet to make any further offers on the issues of casualisation, workload and equality pay gaps.

Responding to the offer, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said:

'In negotiations, employers have produced a further revised offer. This is welcome and testament to the effective strike action our union has delivered. 

'However, it is immediately clear this offer will do little to protect our members in a cost-of-living crisis, nor is it at the limit of what a sector with over £40bn in reserves can afford. The offer is another devastating real-terms pay cut for tens of thousands of our members, following over a decade of below inflation pay awards. 

'A much-improved offer on pay needs to be made alongside serious commitments to end the sector's reliance on insecure contracts and alleviate dangerously high workloads. We remain in dispute but determined to reach a negotiated settlement. There is more than enough time for employers to find a way forward that avoids widespread disruption.' 

The offer will be confirmed in writing (and will be split between February and August) but the overall percentage rises for both offers are shown below.

A joint statement agreed by all five HE trade unions, 26 January 2023:

1. We were disappointed by employers continuing to insist on a real-terms pay cut for 2023/4 which fails to address the 2022/23 dispute.
2. We looked to employers to make an inflation-based offer backdated to August 22 as well as a commitment to resolve pay-related issues.
3. University workers have suffered year-on-year pay cuts and this offer fails to offer any improvement.
4. We remain committed to a negotiated settlement.

We reject any attempt by employers to divide university workers and we will continue to work together to put pressure on employers to address the crisis in the sector. We agreed that to not make an offer that meets inflation to those university workers at the bottom end of the pay spine is particularly egregious while believing that all university workers are suffering year-on-year pay cuts. To do this, employers must increase the total amount of funding being provided for the pay of university workers.