London Weighting latest: All-staff petition delivered to University of London management

A petition signed by almost 400 staff was delivered today to the University of London. The petition, which calls for an immediate upgrading of London Weighting from the current level of £2134 to £4000, was handed in by IWGB Branch Secretary Catherine Morrissey along with Colin Watson and Graham Seymour from ULCC.

Morrissey was in upbeat mood, saying that ‘the sheer number of signatures from across the University will be hard to ignore. Staff are paying more every year to live and travel in London – and this needs to be recognised with an immediate and substantial upgrade’.

The University of London has told unions that despite a large budget surplus this year, there will be a significant drop over the next few years due to commitments and investments in the estates, so they do not believe that they will be able to meet our claim in full. They have promised more details and a breakdown of costs as well as a concrete offer in September.

It’s clear that unless we can maintain the pressure on the University, they are going to try and get away with offering us the minimum possible – we’ll be submitting your signatures this week, and the next thing to do may well be to try and organise an all-staff meeting to start to show the strength of feeling on this issue.

London Weighting is a matter for each individual organisation, so an effective local campaign can win us an immediate salary increase. The University of London has been given until the end of July to respond to the various claims –depending on their response the next steps may be demonstrations or even strike action!

All 3 unions at the University of London have put in London Weighting Claims. The IWGB is asking for an immediate increase to £4,000 We also want a commitment that this will be tied to RPI in future. The estimated initial cost of this would be in the region of £2m

If we’re not going to be priced out of our own jobs, we need a new LW settlement – and the University knows it can afford it.

The IWGB struck over London Weighting in November, and again in February this year. A co-ordinated local strike, or even the threat of it, would quickly bring about an improved offer from the University – but we’ll only get this long-overdue increase if we can put pressure en masse on the employer.