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Marking boycott starts after Easter on 28 April

This is our strongest sanction and we call on all members to support this action and publicize it as widely as possible.

  • Please circulate this briefing to your students.
  • Display this poster.
  • Circulate the marking boycott slides – contains detailed information about what the marking boycott will involve.
  • Add a signature line to your emails, eg: “From 28 April I will be supporting the UCU marking boycott. This is part of the campaign for fair pay in HE; for further details see: http://fairpay.web.ucu.org.uk/he-resources/#.UzLBPYVX1IG“
  • Come to the special Branch Meeting arranged for Thursday 1st May, 1pm (LT6 Hicks Building) and a further Branch Meeting on 14th May 1pm (Council Chamber,Octagon Centre).

Other resources
FAQs

The University’s number 2 earner: pay rise between 8% and 17%

Exactly how greedy is the University’s number two earner?

The University’s 2012/13 financial statement seem to show that the pay of the top earner below the VC went from the £230k-£240k pay zone to the £260k-£270k zone.

So is Number 2 scraping along with an 8% rise (if it went up a mere £20,000 from £240k to £260k) or did they get a splendid 17% rise (if it went up £40,000 from £230k to £270k)? Or maybe a middling 12%?

We’ll probably never know, as unlike the pay of grade 1-9 staff it is a secret. But we do know it is a vastly bigger percentage than the 1% being tossed at the staff, who you might think have rather more need of it.

Breaking news – VC “tax scam”?

SUCU believes we have found out why the VC is having the employers pension contribution of £34,000 paid to him instead as salary. It seems to be a tax avoidance scam which many highly paid people are doing, as excessive pension amounts are now more heavily taxed. So as well as getting an outrageous pay rise, to £374,000, it appears he may also be avoiding paying his full taxes for the health, education and other services which make for a decent society. The scam is legal of course – look who writes the laws – but is it moral, particularly for someone leading a University?

See also article in Sheffield Telegraph – a letter from an alumni donor about the VC’s pay rise.