Lecturers get new pay scale at Dundee

Dundee University staff can look forward to salary increases of up to 24% under a new pay structure negotiated with the AUT lecturers' union.

Although some English universities have already agreed new pay structures as demanded by the national framework agreement for higher education (see Workplace Report, June 2005), Dundee is the first in Scotland to follow suit.

The national agreement says that university staff should not experience reduced earnings as the result of new pay structures, but Dundee's offer goes beyond that by delivering significant increases.

From August 2006, the starting salary for lecturers will be £28,009 - a 15% increase on the current rate. And postdoctoral researchers will see a 24% increase in their starting salary, raising it to £24,886.

There are also new pay scales for administrative, library and computing staff.

The AUT is recommending acceptance of the new structure, but has yet to ballot its members on the issue because some pay assimilation and protection arrangements are still being finalised. The union's secretary at the university, David Duncan, said he was confident that the offer would be approved.

"This university is absolutely dependent on being able to compete internationally for the best academics and researchers," he added. "These increases in starting salaries will help do that."

AUT assistant general secretary David Bleiman described the Dundee agreement as "a wake-up call to the rest of the higher education sector in Scotland, who will have to work hard to catch up".