STUDENTS from Scottish universities are facing disruption after lecturers backed strike action in a UK-wide row over pay.
The University and College Union (UCU) said almost two thirds of members who voted backed strike action with more than three quarters approving action short of a strike.
Read more: Threat of cuts at Dundee University amidst fears of £10m deficit
The vote follows a marginally improved offer of 1.1 per cent from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which the union has described as "insulting".
The union’s national representatives will meet this week to discuss the ballot result before a decision is made on what form the industrial action will take and when it will begin.
Read more: Revealed: The Scottish university principals pocketing pay hikes of up to 15 per cent
The union said universities could afford to pay more and that the latest offer did little to address a real terms pay cut of 14.5 per cent suffered by higher education staff since 2009.
The squeeze on staff salaries comes at a time when pay and benefits for university leaders has increased on average by three per cent with the average pay and pensions package for vice-chancellors standing at over £270,000.
Read more: It is no wonder college lecturers are so resolutely in favour of action
UCU Scotland Official Mary Senior said: "Strike action is always a last resort, but the squeeze on pay has created genuine anger. Staff working in Scotland’s universities want to see a sensible offer which starts to address the real-terms pay cut they have endured since 2009."
Professor Sir Paul Curran, chair of UCEA, said: “The employers have been committed to genuine and productive negotiations with the trade unions and, using only two of the three meetings at the trade unions’ request, have listened and responded with a sustainable and fair final offer.
"Having made an opening offer that was already at a limit of affordability the employers are clear that this offer – taking the total average sector increase to 2.7 per cent - is the very best offer that will be available this year.
"We believe that trade unions can put this offer positively to their members as one that addresses the key aspects of their pay claim in the context of a financially challenging sector environment."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here