Michael Carley, the president of Bath’s University and College Union branch, condemned the salary increase, the bulk of which he said comes from student tuition fees.
“The double standard of a Vice Chancellor getting a £45,000 pay rise when ordinary staff have seen their pay decline in real terms for over a decade is especially shocking.
“Given the extent of precarious employment and the decline in real terms pay, it is particularly insulting to see a tiny clique of self-declared `university leaders’ skimming off the cream from student fees.”
“It is difficult to understand why other universities that are much larger and have enjoyed similar success have not rewarded their vice-chancellors so amply,” Dr Carley said.
“The University of Manchester, for example, is four times larger than Bath, yet its vice-chancellor manages to get by on just over half of Professor Breakwell’s salary,” he added.
While he accepted that Dame Glynis should be rewarded for her contribution towards growing student numbers, Dr Carley claimed that Bath “has seen a collapse in confidence in the governance structures, which are clearly not working” and said that more transparency was needed over the vice-chancellor’s “enormous pay”.
Times Higher Education, 12 January 2017
President of the University of Bath UCU branch Dr Michael Carley said: “The growing gap between senior management and ordinary staff shames the university.
“The University of Bath leads the country in casual and zero hours contracts, subjecting many staff to conditions which would disgrace a fast food chain.
“Many staff struggle to get by on a bare minimum living wage, paid only grudgingly by an overpaid elite increasingly isolated from the concerns of the people who do the work which makes this university one the city of Bath can be proud of.
“As it celebrates its 50th year, the University of Bath deserves management which will give a fair deal to all the staff who have made it the success it is.”
Michael Carley on UCU HEC 