Unite rejects national Higher Education employers offer of 0.3 per
cent
28th April 2009
Unite, the UK’s biggest union has today, (Tuesday), along with
EIS, GMB, UCU and UNISON unanimously rejected a derisory pay offer
from the national higher education employers of 0.3 per cent.
Following the employers' earlier ultimatum of 'jobs or a pay
increase' the unions pushed for a national agreement on job
security and redundancy avoidance.
Mike Robinson, Unite national officer for education, said: “The
employers dropped a bombshell by announcing that their offer on pay
was 0.3 per cent. To put that in to proper perspective anyone on a
salary of £20,000 would get an extra £60, not a week but for the
whole year, and at £30,000 it’s an extra £1.73 per week before tax,
national insurance and pension costs eat into it.
“It goes without saying that the trade union side rejected such
a derisory offer out of hand. A further meeting is expected but
hopes are not high about the prospects for that meeting receiving a
realistic pay offer given where we are today.”
The national negotiating meeting did see some constructive
dialogue on possible joint work on issues such as the gender pay
gap, work life balance and improvements in missing pay and
workforce data.
There are two more possible dates for further negotiations
scheduled for 19th May and 3rd June.
ENDS
For further information contact Mark Di-Toro in the Unite press
office on 07918 640 579
Unite for Jobs
On 16th May 2009, Unite will hold a march through Birmingham.
This will be the centrepiece of the 'Unite for Jobs' campaign. The
March for Jobs will spotlight the need for urgent assistance to
defend jobs.
To see what the Unite for Jobs demands are or for information on
the march visit: http://action.unitetheunion.org
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