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Employers cannot take credit for pay rises

1 August 2007

UCU today welcomed the latest 3% pay rise for higher education staff. The rise is part of the pay deal thrashed out last year between the union and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). However, UCU warned the employers that staff would find it incredible if the employers sought to claim credit for it.

Last summer's protracted pay dispute finally delivered increases in salaries of at least 13.1% over three years for higher education staff – a vast improvement on the employers' original offer of just 6% over two years.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'UCU is committed to good industrial relations and has little desire to see a repeat of that damaging pay dispute. However, employers should stop to reflect on the longstanding staff unhappiness about salaries that drove last year's bitter dispute rather than seeking to rewrite history to give themselves undeserved credit.

'Recent improvements to staff pay are a direct result of the union dragging the employers kicking and screaming to make decent offers, and staff will find the idea of UCEA claiming credit for increases that were hard won in the face of employer opposition laughable. Without union action, the employers would have sought to increase salaries by less than half the final settlement.'

Last updated: 14 December 2015

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