Valentine’s Day Pay Protest

Tomorrow, campaigners for increased staff wages will beg the vice-chancellor to “have a heart”.

Durham University is paying some of its workers less than £7.45 per hour, the “Living Wage” benchmark set by Unison. The “Living Wage”, according to Unison, enables workers to: “live decently and to adequately provide for their family.”

This protest follows a recent £21,000 pay rise for the university’s vice-chancellor Chris Higgins. This rise has brought his basic income to £232,000, nearly £90,000 more than David Cameron.

Durham’s vice-chancellor, Chris Higgins, who recently received a pay rise of £21,000

Unison regional organiser, John McDade, reportedly said: “It cannot be right that one man can earn almost a quarter of a million pounds a year yet people working for the same employer are paid poverty wages.”

However, a spokesman from Durham University repoertedly said: “The Living Wage campaign takes no account of other benefits which our staff enjoy, most notably a secure final salary pension scheme, into which the University makes a contribution of 12% of salary.”

Protestors, reportedly both staff and students, will deliver a chocolate heart inscribed with “have a heart” to the vice-chancellor’s office tomorrow.