University staff will receive a 1 per cent pay rise this year after the University and College Union chose not to oppose employers’ final offer.

With three other unions – Unite, Unison and GMB – concluding pay negotiations, universities are now in a position to implement the 1 per cent salary uplift for the 2015-16 academic year, on 20 October.

“The employers were pleased to be able to make a fair and substantial offer and one that exceeded the official cost of living indicators,” said Paul Curran, vice-chancellor of City University London and chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea).

The only union still in dispute is the EIS-ULA, which represents about 1,200 members in Scottish universities – just 1 per cent of the sector’s unionised workforce, Ucea said.

̽����Ƶ

In addition to the 1 per cent pay increase on all pay points, the offer will also include higher pay rises of up to 2.65 per cent for lower-paid staff.

That will ensure that all those on the 51-point national pay spine are paid at least the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour, employers say.

̽����Ƶ

The average pay rises will amount to 2.5 per cent in light of annual increments, merit-based pay and other rises paid to many staff, Ucea says. The 1 per cent deal is above inflation, it adds.

However, it is significantly below average pay rises of more than 3 per cent .

The end of this year’s pay negotiations follows a decision by UCU’s higher education committee (HEC) against the pay award, despite anger at the “disappointing” offer among many members.

In a consultative ballot of members in June, 53.5 per cent of voters indicated a wish to reject the offer – while 55.7 per cent said they would back action short of a strike.

However, only 47 per cent said they would support strike action.

̽����Ƶ

Without a strong mandate for industrial action from the consultative ballot, a meeting of the HEC on 9 October heard that a “majority of branches did not feel their members would support taking sustained and escalating action for an improvement to the 2015 final offer of 1 per cent”.

Only 14 of the 91 branches represented in consultation meetings held earlier had supported a ballot on strike action in late 2015, the meeting heard.

The majority of branches felt that a strike ballot would not be well supported and may be lost, it also heard.

̽����Ƶ

It was decided that the UCU would simply “note” the 2015 offer, rather than reject or accept it, and develop a strategy around pay negotiations in 2016, with a potential strike ballot and industrial action taking place in April or May if next year’s offer was deemed unacceptable.

The “longer timeline enables a sustained period to campaign and link action to leverage over the 2016 claim and negotiating round and the final offer”, according to a UCU newsletter published this month.

UCU head of bargaining, Michael MacNeil, said the feedback from well-attended regional meetings and submissions from local branches had indicated that “pay is a key issue and that UCU needs to actively build a campaign on pay”.

“The committee decided, however, that in regard to the 2015-16 final offer a conclusion had been reached, and that the union would seek to submit an early pay claim for 2016 and move to ballot members if the employers’ response was unacceptable.”

̽����Ƶ

jack.grove@tesglobal.com