Lecturers Turn Down New Pay Offer

Tue, May 09, 2006

Source: BBC

Many students are expected to suffer if the boycott continues University lecturers' unions have rejected a pay rise offer of 12.6% over three years as being "way below" that needed to end an exam-marking boycott.

Many students are expected to suffer if the boycott continues
University lecturers' unions have rejected a pay rise offer of 12.6% over three years as being "way below" that needed to end an exam-marking boycott.
The Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA) had previously put forward 3% increases for this year and next year.

It said the offer, after a day of talks with the AUT and Natfhe unions, was "at the very limits of affordability".

But unions said the figure "seriously" misjudged members' feelings.

'Fiddling while Rome burns'

The Association of University Teachers and Natfhe have been refusing to mark exams and coursework since March unless they see a "substantial" pay rise.

The boycott could leave some final-year students unable to graduate.

The AUT is also boycotting exam-setting.

Its general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "The employers are fiddling while Rome burns.

"Universities are facing legal challenges from their students, graduations risk being shelved and professional bodies are expressing concern over the contingency measures being considered by some institutions.

"Yet the employers still do not appear to have grasped the severity of the situation."

Roger Kline, Natfhe's head of higher education, said: "This offer seriously misjudges the mood of university academic and academic related staff.

  We expect them to honour their promises and drop their industrial action

Jocelyn Prudence, UCEA

"It is way below the settlement that independent reports say our members merit."

He added: "It is astonishing that after several weeks of refusing to meet with the unions the employers have made a so-called 'final' offer which is not a serious attempt to settle the pay dispute. "

But UCEA chairman Geoffrey Copland said: "This is the employers' best and final offer and represents a very significant increase in pay for staff in our universities and colleges of higher education."

'Emergency measures'

Chief executive Jocelyn Prudence added: "This represents far more than just a 'decent offer' and there is no justification in the AUT and Natfhe continuing their harm to students' education and employment prospects.

"We expect them to honour their promises and drop their industrial action."

With graduations threatened, universities such as Cambridge and Keele have already set in motion "emergency measures" - such as using exam papers from other sources - the unions said.

A growing number of student unions are complaining that the boycott is damaging final-year undergraduates.

The talks between the UCEA and the two unions came after St Andrews and Aberdeen universities last week offered academics a higher salary increase than that agreed nationally by employers.

They both put forward a 5% pay rise from August, followed by 3.5% in each of the next two years.

The AUT rejected the individual proposals but said they could be a "starting point" towards a UK-wide agreement.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4983898.stm