UCU: Capping HE salaries

Motion

Motion text: Conference notes:
1. DUCU’s motion proposing capping Durham salaries at £100k.
2. DUCU estimated saving £2.5m-£3m pa.
3. Earning £100k puts people comfortably in top 4% of earners nationally.
4. Industry-wide mass redundancies.
5. Cutting productive staff sends HEIs into earnings spirals; they run fewer
modules/courses; recruit and accommodate fewer students; produce fewer
REF-able outputs.
Conference believes:
a. £3m pa savings are non-trivial for HEIs.
b. Capping salaries achieves savings without earnings spirals.
c. These savings should mitigate HE's mental health crisis: easing workload
pressures, preserving jobs, increasing staff; pay uplifts for lowest-paid
staff.
d. This strengthens staff HE needs to get through this crisis period.
e. Serious consideration of pay-capping widens the horizons of possibility for HE
efficiencies, currently focussed on cutting jobs or restricting salaries of lowerpaid comrades.
Conference resolves:
i. To direct negotiators to investigate whether a sector-wide pay cap should be
included in JNCHES negotiations.