It is galling that lecturers' union Natfhe's efforts to work in partnership with employers to deliver modernised pay structures, and on the access agenda so lauded by this government, has led to a white paper that will recreate the binary divide. It will also punish students and deliver nothing to enhance general pay, acknowledged by prime minister Tony Blair as having fallen behind by 45 per cent compared with the non-manual average over the past 20 years.
Higher education staff have delivered enormous successes over the past decade, yet this government refuses to listen to those who know what is needed to build on such success.
Jill Jones
Chair, Natfhe higher education committee