New pay increases for academic and related staff

10/18/2001 07:46:55

New pay increases for academic and related staff were finally agreed over the summer following extensive negotiation.

A significantly higher pay award of 5.1%, compared to last year's 3% has been agreed, and guaranteed for eighteen months as opposed to the usual twelve. The award is being introduced in two phases. Lancaster staff should have already begun to see the effect, with the first instalment backdated to April this year, and the second to follow next March.

This award is a landmark in national negotiations between the Association of University Teachers (AUT), other trade unions, and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). The new package means that there will now be one main Joint Negotiating Committee involving the unions and UCEA equally, with an independent chair. This will be the principle forum for negotiating on national issues, such as the imminent review of pay structures, as salaries for older and newer institutions are finally blended into a single scale. It has already been agreed that in future, all staff on campus will see their pay award come into effect on 1 August each year.

The new Committee will also look at matters such as equal pay for work of equal value, and modernisation questions arising from the Bett Report. Crucially however, specific issues of importance to staff at Lancaster and other institutions will continue to be negotiated locally. The AUT and other unions will campaign individually on concerns such as the quality assurance system, excessive workloads, and sabbatical leave entitlement.

Association of University Teachers