Make campus poverty history

Unison is pressing universities to set the standard by ending their disgraceful low-pay culture, Christina McAnea says.

When the higher education pay negotiations resume this week, Unison will push for higher pay for all in the sector, in particular for those in the lowest paid group. The university sector has the lowest pay rates in the entire public sector. It has been overtaken by local government, health, the Civil Service and even further education colleges.

Hourly rates of £5. in pre-92 institutions and £5.32 in the post-92 sector are not much above the national minimum wage. These are not pay levels for 16-year-old trainees but for large numbers of manual workers, including cleaners and caterers. About half of manual workers are on this lowest grade. Their poor pay affects other staff, particularly those on the next lowest pay level, such as administrative and clerical staff, library assistants and technicians.

How does this matter? Morally it should be of concern for any reasonable and socially responsible employer. It should be unacceptable for institutions to exist on a bedrock of poverty-level pay rates. And, of course, there are many studies on the impact of poverty on society in general. Low pay means extra costs to the state in providing benefits and services, and the links between poverty and other issues such as health, mortality and crime rates are well established.

There is a more immediate and practical consequence - low pay costs institutions dearly. The IRS Research survey carried out for the University and College Employers' Association in 2003 found that "manual staff are the most problematic category to recruit and retain."

Forty per cent of institutions reported difficulties in recruitment "most of the time" - a costly situation. A survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development in 2003 estimated that costs associated with labour turnover averaged £2,500 per employee. Even the cost for recruiting an unskilled manual worker was estimated at £750 per employee. Turnover, which is as high as 40 per cent in some regions, costs the sector thousands of pounds that could be better spent improving the pay rates that cause the problems.

Higher education employers have demonstrated their willingness to try to tackle this. The deal agreed two years ago delivered significant improvements for the lowest paid. It is to be hoped that we will see similar moves this year. Our claim is for a modest minimum wage of £6.50 an hour. We need a serious commitment to tackle low pay, and we need institutions to dedicate more resources to this largely forgotten group.

Unison has about 45,000 members in the sector, including cleaners, secretaries, senior administrators and professional staff. There is an opportunity this year for the sector to do more than just catch up with others. We do not want to move from being the lowest paying sector to merely one of the lowest payers. Universities can make the leap to be among the best.

Instead of university staff being attracted by pay at the local supermarket, checkout staff ought to aspire to work at the local university.

Christina McAnea is national secretary of education services, Unison.