Alex Miller
Universities all over Britain were closed down on March 7 as higher education unions staged a national one-day strike over pay. The Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the University and College Lecturers Union (NATFHE) called the strike in response to the refusal of the University and College Employers Association (UCEA) to enter negotiations over pay, which the unions estimate has declined in value by 40% over the past 30 years.
The employers had previously assured the government — as part of its rationale for introducing extra tuition fees — that at least one-third of the new cash flowing into the higher education sector would be used to improve staff pay.
As the strike commenced, it was announced that between 2002-05, the average pay of university vice-chancellors increased by 25%, and now stands at £154,000 (roughly A$364,000). According to the March 10 Times higher education supplement, 18 vice-chancellors earn over £200,000 (A$472,000).
Since the strike, AUT members have carried out a total ban on assessment and examinations, and NATFHE members have pledged to work to contract and boycott assessment unless the employers meet their commitments to improve staff pay.
The ongoing industrial action could prevent students from graduating in July, but the National Union of Students is backing the unions' action. According to a March 13 statement, NUS "absolutely condemns the effect of any industrial action on students. Students, particularly when paying fees, have an absolute right to get the teaching, assessment and support that their university promised them on enrolment — and they should demand it. But the action has been caused by universities, acting through their employers' association UCEA by not meeting their original promises of a much needed pay increase and forcing lecturers to take industrial action. NUS condemns the effect and the action of UCEA, not AUT/NATFHE who are simply defending their own members' rights to better pay."
From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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