miserly staff bonus – another reason to vote YES in the national ballot

You will have received an email from the VC this morning announcing a 72% cut in the staff bonus to a miserly £100 from last year’s staff bonus of £350. If we add in last year’s grade-related hardship payment of £100-£300 negotiated by UCU, the cut is 78-85%.

The pay offer this year is a mere 1.4% though inflation is 3.8%, meaning our pay has fallen 20–30% in real terms since 2007–09, a catastrophic cut.

To compound matters even more, the VC also:

refuses to reverse the hugely unpopular 50% parking charge rise;

refuses to pay Outer London Weighting (though the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield pays it to the tune of £4,065);

refuses to make a hardship payment this year; and

refuses to disclose what his salary is until next year’s financial report, claiming this is “full transparency.”

Meanwhile, at last report, the University had cash including short-term deposits of £139.4 million.

For all these reasons and more, vote YES in UCU’s national ballot – a strong mandate is the only way VCs will begin to take fair pay and conditions seriously.

In solidarity

Dragan Plavsic

President

On behalf of UHUCU Branch Committee