News: Academics split on new pay deal
Posted on Tuesday, April 20 @ 22:09:48 PDT by papous |
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angel writes "Academic staff in the "new" universities are split on whether to accept a new pay structure.
The changes were accepted by 82% to 18% in a ballot of members of the Natfhe lecturers' union.
Natfhe represents staff in post-1992 universities in England and Wales.
But members of the EIS, representing staff in the new universities in Scotland, voted 411 to 308 against accepting the new arrangements.
Just over a third of the Natfhe members entitled to vote took part in the ballot. The turnout in the EIS ballot was 41%.
Natfhe said its vote followed months of negotiation with the employers during which it had resolved five outstanding issues, including job evaluation.
Other issues included a better deal for part-time staff and inflation-proofing of the pay settlement.
The head of Natfhe's universities department, Roger Kline, said: "This is a clear majority and an endorsement of the union's higher education committee's recommendation.
"Natfhe is determined to ensure that this agreement is implemented across the sector and in particular that we get fairer treatment for part-time and hourly paid staff."
Pay improvements
But he added: "Our deep concerns about the overall level of pay for academic staff remain and we will continue to lobby, alongside our colleagues in other academic unions, for substantial long-term improvements in pay that are needed throughout higher education."
The chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, Jocelyn Prudence, said she was pleased to see Natfhe members giving "such a powerful endorsement" of the new pay framework.
The vote against the agreement by the EIS (Educational Institute of Scotland) is to be considered by the union's executive when it meets on 7 April.
The union's leaders had recommended that the members should reject the agreement because of the way it was linked to the 2003 and 2004 pay awards.
The proposed arrangements have also proved more contentious for the union representing academic staff in the "old", pre-1992 universities across the UK, the Association of University Teachers (AUT).
Its members staged a week of one-day strikes, and have been operating a boycott of assessing students' work and covering for absent colleagues, over their interpretation of the original offer.
Following fresh talks with the employers, under the auspices of the TUC, delegates at the AUT's annual conference last week voted to suspend the action and put the latest offer to a ballot of the wider membership.
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