Ian Diamond wants to employ staff on 9 month contracts – but god forbid he takes a pay cut

Our holier-than-thou Principal has gone and done it again.

Sir (remind me why?) Ian Diamond at the Efficiency in Higher Education last week suggested employing teaching staff on nine month contracts in a bid to save money.

He said universities had to “fight the perception” of being “awash with cash”.

Ironic considering he himself is “awash with cash” as the highest paid Principal of any university in Scotland, on a salary of more than £335,000 a year.

Whilst the academic year is only nine months long, teaching staff are also employed as researchers at university, and use their ‘summers’ to work on next year’s academia alongside their own work. As many said on the picket lines a few months ago, teaching is only a part of their job.

Perhaps Diamond sits at home twiddling his thumbs for three months, but he seems to have forgotten the hard work everyone else puts in for their miserable 1% pay increase – whilst he gets 12%.

Rob Henthorn – President for Education and Employability

The negative effects these contracts could have on our education would be disastrous – why would an ever-increasingly dissatisfied body of staff be willing to produce top-quality material for three month’s less pay?

Sally Hunt, general manager of the UCU voiced her concerns over such a move saying, “High-quality teaching comes when staff feel secure and valued, and these proposals would achieve neither – while actually worsening our sector’s already appalling record for the exploitation of casualised staff.”

The upsetting truth is that this is not the first unfair and outrageous move Diamond has made. We reported only a few months ago the decision made by the University of Aberdeen to dock a day’s worth of pay from striking staff, forcing them to take a full day’s strike instead of the agreed two hours employed by the majority of other universities.

Diamond, if you’re that worried about money why not take a pay cut, lose the chauffeur and stop putting every fucking coffee you buy on university expenses – that would be an efficient move, don’t you think?

For a man on almost a grand a day it’s a real shame he can’t afford his own tube fair.

SOMEONE BUY THE GUY AN OYSTER CARD.

Check out senior management’s expenses here.