We urge you to use your vote, and to vote for industrial action in relation to our pay claim.

Here are the reasons why (all national figures taken from UCU’s main website; local figures are taken from Kent’s Financial Statements for 2017 at page 51):
https://www.kent.ac.uk/finance/about/accounts/accounts20162017.pdf• Since 2009, our salaries have failed to keep up with inflation.
• Since 2009, we have experienced, in effect, a cut of 21%
• Meanwhile, in 2017, the pay going to senior management here at Kent, increased from £1,086,000 to 1,166,000
• Note that the former VC was awarded a £25,000 performance related pay bonus, on top of her salary of £299,000 (up from £279,000 i.e. by £20,000 from the previous year)
Over the last 5 years across the sector:
• capital expenditure in the sector rose by 34.9%,
• income has increased by 33.1%,
• operating surpluses have increased by 176.83%
• and reserves are up by 259.04%.
• At the same time, staff costs as a percentage of expenditure have fallen by 1.9%.

The dispute it not just about pay – it is also about gender inequality in higher education. See this webpage for more details.
https://www.ucu.org.uk/he2018

When we take strike action we are saying loudly and clearly, Universities need to value their staff. We are saying loudly and clearly, we will not accept being told to do more and more work, for less and less money, while those at the top keep seeing their pay rise at a much faster and greater rate.

When you make up your mind, remember, it is not just about this year’s pay. It is about the threshold from which we begin during the next pay round. So if we secure a (for example) 4% pay rise this year, we would enter the next pay round, better off, and would hope to achieve at least an increase in line with inflation from that point.

Also remember that pay feeds into pensions, ie. any pay rise will increase a members’ pension pot.

We have shown our strength over pensions. Let us be resolved to show our strength over pay. WE ARE WORTH IT.

Best

Sian, Mark and Owen
University of Kent UCU branch officers