May 07 2013

2013-14 pay claim

The New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (New JNCHES) is the central committee for multi-employer negotiations and dialogue on pay and pay-related issues. The first full meeting of New JNCHES to discuss the pay claim for 2013-14 took place on 23 April.  UNISON and the other Higher Education unions had previously presented our joint claim, which called for:

  1.  A percentage increase on all pay spine points of at least RPI (Feb 2013 RPI was 3.2%) on all salary points plus an additional percentage increase to start to address the real term reduction in pay over the last four years.
  2. Low Pay – to address the issue of low pay in the higher education sector by achieving a ‘living wage’ for all staff. This should be achieved through the removal of the bottom two spine points on the national pay spine.
  3. London Weighting – An increase in the minimum allowance to £4000.
  4. Positive proposals from UCEA on a range of equalities issues

The unions argued that the claim was justified as the settlement for 2012/13 amounted to a further erosion of members’ pay. After a fourth consecutive year of pay restraint, our members are reporting real falls in income and difficulties in maintaining their standard of living.

We also called on universities to commit to paying a living wage to all staff, regardless of their employment status. We argued strongly that it was affordable and justified, and that universities should strive to be socially responsible employers within their communities.

At the conclusion of the first negotiating meeting, the employers made an initial offer of 0.5% on all pay points and London weighting in pre-1992 institutions. They stated they do not have a mandate to remove or extend pay points from the current scale. The employers wish to continue discussion on other pay related matters to address inequality issues and asked for further details on the other elements of the claim.

Although the trade unions did not formally respond to this offer, we made it clear that it was well below the unions’ expectations. The employers acknowledged the union response and indicated that there are elements of the claim where they have an ability to negotiate.

The next meeting of JNCHES is due to take place on 8 May 2013

See also http://www.ucea.ac.uk/en/empres/paynegs/current/index.cfm

Derek J. Baldwin

Derek works in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Kent. Among his key responsibilities is managing the School's web resources, managing the School's hardware inventory, and being the first-responder when any hardware/software issues occur.