Proposals to crack down on pay inequality across Scottish universities

The Scottish Greens have released plans to crack down on university principal pay in Scotland.

The party has lodged an amendment to the Scottish Government’s Tertiary Education and Training bill set to be debated in parliament this week. They believe this would help “boost the wages of ordinary workers.”

The plans would mean the highest-paid employee at a university would not be permitted to earn more than 10 times the salary of the lowest-paid worker.

This comes after rows surrounding Edinburgh University principal, Sir Peter Mathieson’s, alleged £418,000 pay packet.

Sir Peter Mathieson earns £236,000 more than the First Minister of Scotland.

Across the UK, the average remuneration for a university Vice Chancellor is £340,000, while 71 College Principals make over £200,000.

The Scottish Greeens said that introducing a 10:1 pay ratio across public and private sectors in Scotland will “force those at the top to improve the salaries of their lowest staff if they wish to increase their own payslips.”

Greens co-leader, Ross Greer released a statement which said: “This is a simple matter of fairness. Why should university vice chancellors and college principals rake in obscene salaraies when so many of the staf who make their institutions great are trapped in spirals of low wages and redundancies? It’s a scandal hiding in plain sight.”

This is in light of the most recent strikes at Edinburgh University which saw members of the Univeristy and College Union (UCU) take three days of industrial action in disputes over pay and staff cuts.

Ross continued to say: “A 10:1 pay ratio between the highest and lowest-paid staff is the bare minimum that we need. It would ensure that bosses can only raise their own salaries by also impriving the salaries of their lowest staff too.

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“It would lift everyone up rather than let a small number of very well paid people widen the gap between themselves and everyone else.

“Colleges and universities get billions of pounds of public money. We should get the best value for what we put in.

“That’s why I’m pushing for us to get a grip on the high pay at the top of these institutions.

“It’s not just in our colleges and universities that we need to see this kind of change. It’s in workplaces all over Scotland and beyond.

“Linking the salaries of bosses to the lowest paid workers is a simple and important way to reduce inequality and boost the wages of ordinary workers.”

Across the UK, the average remuneration for a university Vice Chancellor is £340,000, while 71 College Principals make over £200,000.