Cleaners, porters and security workers at almost one in four universities earn less than the living wage even though senior staff are paid more than £200,000, according to a new study.
Unison urged universities to stop being "mean" and follow the lead of universities in Scotland, which all pay the rate of £7.85 an hour to their staff, over £1 an hour more than the minimum wage of £6.50.
General secretary Dave Prentis said at the union's national conference in Glasgow: "It's time the universities in the rest of the UK shaped up and followed the example set by Scotland.
"Upping the wages of the lowest paid staff on their books should be easily affordable for all our universities, especially when they are paying their senior members of staff so handsomely.
"Paying all the staff who work for every university in the UK the living wage would make a huge difference to the household budgets of thousands of families.
"Vice chancellors who are earning more than £200,000 should stop being so mean and give their staff a decent pay rise."
Unison said it hoped the 19 Scottish universities that have pledged to pay their staff the living wage, will go one step further and become accredited living wage employers, which would ensure that contract staff as well as directly employed workers would receive the higher rate.
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