Passed unanimously at GUCU branch meeting on 26.10.2022
London Weighting Increase to Reflect Cost of Living
This branch notes:
1. Joint Goldsmiths UCU-UNISON negotiations with SMT in 2018 agreed an increase in London Weighting Allowance (LWA) to £3,400 for a 4-year period to 31 July 2022.
2. LWA does not cover the full additional cost of living in London and has not kept pace with inflation, which currently stands at a staggering 10.1% and could increase. This makes it harder to recruit and retain staff, and harder for staff to live in London.
3. The latest round of national pay negotiations of 2022–23 ended with yet another derisory offer from the employer (3%) which amounts to a real terms pay cut.
4. UCU figures show that the current pay offer follows over a decade of low pay awards which puts staff pay 25% behind inflation.
5. New research shows that the minimum London weighting needed to cover a basic standard of living in the capital is £6,549.
6. Goldsmiths’ underlying surplus is approximately £1.1m for 2021-22.
This branch believes:
1. Goldsmiths has one of the lowest figures for LWA across London universities.
2. Actioning the LWA pay claim is necessary in the context of a growing cost of living crisis, and that following the pandemic.
3. Actioning the LWA pay claim is especially urgent given the real terms pay cut over the past decade.
4. Addressing the real decline in LWA will ensure Goldsmiths staff are remunerated according to the standards of research-intensive universities, and will help with recruitment and retention of staff.
5. The LWA pay claim is a progressive pay uplift that will especially benefit Goldsmiths staff on lower pay grades.
This branch resolves:
1. To negotiate an increase in London Weighting Allowance from current levels of £3,400 to £5,000 across all pay grades, backdated to 1 August 2022.
2. To demand a commitment to increase this figure annually in line with either nationally agreed pay increases or the rate of inflation (CPI), whichever is higher.
3. To demand that London Weighting is taken out of basic pay and claimed as a separate element of pay.
4. To ensure the inclusion of London Weighting in parental leave payments.
5. In the absence of any such commitment, for the branch to move to a formal dispute with the employer and to prepare for industrial action if required to advance the LWA pay claim.
Proposed by Feyzi Ismail
Seconded by Lucy Mercer