King’s College London ‘staff just can’t afford’ the 1.4% pay rise
Unison branch chair Ruth told Nick Auvache:
“We’re out here today because King’s has offered all of our workers a 1.4% pay rise this year. That’s obviously below inflation, a real-terms pay cut for our staff, coming on the back of years of real-terms pay cuts. Our staff just can’t afford it. We’re working just as hard as ever, keeping the university running, doing all the behind-the-scenes jobs which enable students to come here and learn. So we’re calling on King’s to re-open the national negotiations and put some local solutions on the table, to get our staff the pay rise they deserve.”
One in five academics could go at London Met
Following a 90% yes vote, members of the University and College Union (UCU) at London Metropolitan University in north London plan to take eight days of strike action over three weeks, starting on 15 April.
The university plans to delete 295 jobs, including compulsory redundancy of up to 120 staff. Over a fifth of academic staff could go.
At a protest rally on 25 March, Socialist Party member Marco Tesei, UCU National Executive Committee member, said: “You’re not alone, there’s dozens of universities and colleges fighting at the moment. Let’s think cooperatively and nationally, we need to all strike together. Let’s also demand our union leadership presses Starmer to scrap the Tory 50% turnout threshold so we can really come out in force together. And also press the TUC (Trades Union Congress) to name the date for an anti-austerity demo – austerity is the reason why we’re all in same boat across post-16 education.”
- This is part of a longer article at the main Socialist Party site.