Created on: 26 Aug 2024
Dear Colleague
I would like to urge you to vote in the current consultative ballot on the 2024-25 new JNCHES pay round.
The full pay offer is here, the pay offer is equivalent to 2.5% for most academics.
The Dispute Process: Employers Initiated a Dispute with Trade Unions as they had not Agreed to the Employers’ Pay Offer
For the first time, the Employers Association (UCEA) declared a dispute with all five trade unions. Whilst the wording as to why it raised a dispute with the EIS was flawed, and despite us telling UCEA that we unable to state whether we accepted or rejected the offer since we were still in the process of asking members on it – they insisted on going through the dispute process that they called.
No New JNCHES dispute process has ever led to an improved pay uplift. The two dispute meetings took place last week with National Officer Ross and the EIS ULA Vice President Dan Perry. There was no improved pay uplift offered.
University Accounts 2022-23: Pay Principle
The University sector has pled poverty and stated at negotiations that they cannot afford to improve their 2.5% pay uplift offer to academic staff.
The EIS is going through the latest published university accounts. Unsurprisingly, incomes and reserves continue to increase. This is reflected in the Principals’ pay table. Average pay for Principals has gone up by 5.5%.
Many of the Principals have “maxed out” their pension pots, therefore for tax efficiency purposes many are paid the equivalent employers’ pension contributions as extra cash emoluments – this has also increased in one year by 6.5% in 2022-23.
Whilst the Principals offer low pay offers to staff, their own percentage pay rises (and the size of their cash uplifts) are far larger. This means universities’ pay policies do not all treat staff equitably.
For example, in 2022 Edinburgh Napier University’s Principal’s pay was “5.8 times the median remuneration of all other staff”, in the 2023 accounts it “6.3 times the median remuneration of all other staff.”
|
HEI |
Principal basic Salary (£k) |
Principal Emoluments |
Principal basic Salary (£k) |
Principal Emoluments |
|
Edinburgh Napier University |
219,000 |
263,000 |
226,000 |
272,000 |
|
Glasgow Caledonian University |
237,000 |
277,000 |
125,000 |
154,000 |
|
Glasgow School of Art |
155,000 |
191,000 |
198,000 |
243,000 |
|
Heriot-Watt University |
262,000 |
338,000 |
277,000 |
366,000 |
|
Queen Margaret University |
203,000 |
238,000 |
210,000 |
245,000 |
|
Robert Gordon University |
208,935 |
260,122 |
222,452 |
272,134 |
|
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland |
148,000 |
188,000 |
154,000 |
196,000 |
|
SRUC |
204,000 |
262,000 |
207,000 |
265,000 |
|
University of Aberdeen |
260,000 |
291,000 |
281,000 |
336,000 |
|
University of Abertay* |
167,000 |
175,000 |
204,000 |
251,000 |
|
University of Dundee |
249,000 |
303,000 |
259,000 |
316,000 |
|
University of Edinburgh |
342,000 |
406,000 |
348,000 |
418,000 |
|
University of Glasgow |
300,000 |
400,000 |
300,000 |
400,000 |
|
University of Highlands and Islands |
210,000 |
256,000 |
219,000 |
254,000 |
|
University of St Andrews |
305,000 |
349,000 |
331,000 |
378,000 |
|
University of Stirling |
295,000 |
320,000 |
363,000 |
320,000 |
|
University of Strathclyde |
321,000 |
389,000 |
330,000 |
401,000 |
|
University of the West of Scotland* |
120,000 |
146,000 |
176,000 |
269,000 |
|
Totals |
||||
|
Principal's Average Salary (£pa) |
233,663 |
280,673 |
246,136 |
297,563 |
*There was a change in Principals in both these universities.
Please use your vote.
The EIS ULA Executive Committee recommends that you reject the pay offer and vote yes for industrial action.