This post was written by a member who wishes to remain anonymous.
It's reasonable to conclude that not everyone is going to feel the "pinch" in this cost-of-living crisis. For a start, university vice-chancellors will barely feel it as they continue to rake in six-figure salaries and quietly enjoy their grace and favour residences. They won't be cutting back on essentials and worrying about how they're going to be paying their heating and utility bills. Unlike many lecturers in Higher Education and, indeed, Further Education, vice-chancellors and college principals will continue to do their grocery shopping at Waitrose without so much as a thought.
Universities rely heavily on casualised labour; this allows university VCs and senior managers to enjoy the kind of eye-watering salaries the rest of us can only dream of. According to the UCU's Facebook page, the most precarious staff in universities work the equivalent of four extra unpaid days every week, up to as much as 67 hours. Furthermore, the disparities are felt acutely among women and ethnic minorities and will only get worse if we don't act NOW.
According to the UCU website on 3 August 2022:
… university vice-chancellors imposed a 3% pay 'increase', well below RPI inflation of 12.3%, As a result pay has now fallen behind inflation by 25% since 2009, as shown by UCU's pay modeller. UCU said the real term pay cut will see staff facing poverty. Experts have warned that RPI will hit 21% by January whilst gas and electricity prices are already reaching record highs. On average, university staff work an additional two days per week unpaid due to excessive workloads. A third of academic staff are on some form of insecure contract.
The COVID-19 pandemic offered VCs the perfect excuse to trample on our rights, cut pay, and tear up conditions of employment. These exercises in "restructuring", as they're euphemistically called, again disproportionately affect part-time, low-paid and casualised workers. As many as one third of academics working in HE are on fixed term contracts; this figure rises to almost half for teaching-only academics (44%) and over two-thirds (68%) for research-only staff. Despite the negative press and widespread campaigning, 18% of all higher education institutions still use zero-hours contracts for employing academic staff (equating to 29 institutions employing 3,545 academic staff on these discredited contracts). It is women and ethnic minorities who are most likely to be employed on such contracts and yet, our institutions have the gall to tell us that they're "committed" to equal opportunities.
If you're an academic, who's being employed casually or on a fixed term or a similarly precarious contract, you will have noticed that fares have increased, along with the cost of food and other consumables. Rents have also increased and in many cases, these take up more than a third of one's income. If you rent privately, then it's likely that your rent has been increased by your landlord who uses the property as income, while putting no value into the wider economy. [Even more likely in future given the mini-budget's probable effects on buy-to-let mortgages - Ed.] Indeed, finding an affordable place to rent has become increasingly difficult and many rents in London and the surrounding counties have increased significantly. For instance, private rents in Staines are, on average, £1000 to £2000 pcm (source, Home.co.uk). The current average is £1,654 pcm. If you live in London, the average rent in inner London boroughs like Lambeth or Kensington and Chelsea is between £1,300 and £2000 for a studio or a one-bedroom flat. If you choose to live in an outer London borough like Bexley, for example, the rent is about £700 pcm. Even if you rent from a social landlord, rents have been increased. For example, L&Q (formerly London & Quadrant) have increased their rents by 4.1% and although it may not sound like a massive increase, it's still a significant chunk of your income that's going towards rent.
Additionally, fares on public transport have risen by nearly 100% since 2019. For example, if you're a worker travelling to Egham from London by train, the full rail fare from London Waterloo is £22.00 or you can buy two singles at £20.90. Should you decide the take the bus from Egham rail station to campus, that will set you back £1.50 on the shuttle or First Bus Berkshire (up 50p from 2021) or £1.00 if you take the White Bus.
Royal Holloway has offered staff on points 5 to 23 a pay increase ranging from 9% (at point 5) to 3.1% (at point 21). Other workers, including those on main scale points 22 to 49, Professorial Grades and Grade 10 will receive a 3% increase. This comes at a time when the current rate of inflation is hovering around the 10% mark and is set to rise even higher by the new year. What employers are offering us is an effective pay cut in real terms. How are we meant to work and survive at the same time?
A Concerned Member
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