University of East Anglia punishes low paid by scrapping real living wage commitment

The University of East Anglia (UEA) has scrapped its commitment to the real living wage for its lowest-paid employees, UNISON reveals today.

University bosses told around 300 cleaners, nursery staff and other workers on the lowest salaries today that they will not receive an expected pay increase next month.

The real living wage is independently calculated as the minimum a person needs to meet the basic cost of living. University staff expected their pay to go up to the current rate of £10.90 in April but have been told they will not get it less than two weeks before the rise was due.

University managers predict they can make savings of roughly £300,000 — 1% of the current financial shortfall — by denying staff the living wage.

At the other end of the pay scale, UNISON has discovered that more than 50 UEA staff are on six-figure salaries. The union says capping executive pay at £100,000 would make far greater savings than clawing back money from lower-paid workers.

UEA announced in January that it was £14 million in the red and may have to make compulsory redundancies to break even. Since then, the figure has risen to £30m and bosses have yet to reveal their recovery plan.

UNISON UEA branch secretary Amanda Chenery Howes said: “UEA’s top managers won’t feel the pinch from this decision to hold down wages during a cost of living crisis — they’re still sitting pretty on their six-figure salaries.

“But for the university’s nursery staff and cleaners the real living wage means being able to feed their families and heat their homes.

“It’s simply unacceptable for the people who drove UEA over a financial cliff to expect their lowest-paid employees, hailed as heroes during the pandemic, to cushion the fall.

“The predicted savings are a drop in the ocean compared to UEA’s financial woes, but they mean the world to the university’s workers. Managers must reverse this cruel decision.”