Upcoming Living Wage Action at University of Bath

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts and the trade unions at University of Bath will be demonstrating outside the University Council meeting, this Thursday, meeting at the Tiki cafe at 3.30pm.

A statement released by the group reads:

"The Living Wage is the minimum amount someone needs to earn to maintain a normal standard of Living. Disgracefully, the University of Bath refuses to pay a Living Wage to hundreds of its staff, the majority of whom are students. In contrast, the University's senior managers are extremely well paid. For example, the Vice Chancellor recently got another payrise, bringing her annual salary to £395,000! To put that into context, it would take some staff well over thirty years to earn what the Vice Chancellor earns in just one. This inequality is staggering, and getting worse. We say it has to stop.

On Thursday, Bath Students against Fees and Cuts will be joining the campus trade unions to call for a Living Wage for all University staff, and an urgent reduction in pay inequality on campus. Come and join us to lobby the University Council into doing the right thing - to pay all staff a wage they can afford to live on!

Meet at 15:30 in Wessex House, in the south stairwell on level 2. To get there, walk past the 4 West Cafe (Tiki) on your left hand side, and take the next door on the left. Bring your best chanting voices and a sign if you can"

 Social media users can join the Facebook event page here.

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University of Bath Vice Chancellor's Day

Vice Chancellor's Day Party at University of Bath

On February 2nd 2015, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts held a Vice Chancellor's Day celebration, this time at the University of Bath, in recognition of the Vice Chancellor, Glynis Breakwell, having earned three times as much as the lowest paid worker at the university.

Vice Chancellor's Day cake

Over 300 people attended the celebration outside the university library, with music, party hats and a cake with Vice Chancellor's face on it. A petition for a living wage for staff at the university was signed by 295 people, and a card was presented to the Vice Chancellor's Office.

On Monday 2 February, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts held a celebration to mark the date on which the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bath, one of Bath's biggest employers, earned three times as much as the annual income of the lowest paid worker. The purpose of the celebration was to draw attention to the wage disparity between the lowest paid workers at the university and the Vice Chancellor.

Vice Chancellor Glynis Breakwell currently earns £395,000 a year, compared to the lowest paid workers, who earn around £11,000 a year. The Vice Chancellor recently received a pay rise of £11,000.

Placards at the University of Bath Vice Chancellor's Day

The party comes on the day the Vice Chancellor signed a letter to The Times arguing that cutting tuition fees would "damage the economy, affect the quality of students' education, and set back work on widening access to education." (Note: The hyperlink takes to The Times' paywall, however a screenshot of the article can be found on this Facebook link). Reiss McGuinness, a member of Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, said "As to be expected."

A student at the party told us: "It was great to get such a positive response from so many students and staff for our Vice Chancellor's Day celebration and more signatures on our petition for a living wage for staff".

The action comes after another Vice Chancellor's Day at Bath Spa University on 23rd January, when the Vice Chancellor there had earned the same amount as the lowest paid worker at the university, and a Free Education march in Bath city centre on 31st January this year.

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Bath Spa Vice Chancellor's Day

Students at Bath Spa University celebrated their Vice Chancellor's Day in front of the Main House at the University today. Today, Vice Chancellor Christina Slade earned as much as the lowest paid worker in the university earns in a year.

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts organised the party to highlight the pay gap between the Vice Chancellor and other workers at the university. In 2012-2013, Christina took a 6.4% pay rise, taking a new salary of £216,000 when other staff were offered a 1% pay rise.

The Vice Chancellor was unfortunately unable to attend her party as she was on a business trip to Washington at the time. "Probably staying in a 5 star hotel", said one student.

Cody, a student at Bath Spa University told us "It's gone very sucessfully. The samba is about to start to properly catch the attention of students and staff in order to highlight the important issue of pay disparity in the university."

                                                 Video of of the Bath Spa VC Day

The students brought cakes, bubbles, sparklers, party poppers, champagne and an 11-piece samba band to the party, which went on for nearly 3 hours, during which many students and staff members came over to join in the fun.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Neil Sammells, passed by the party and was invited to join in instead of the Vice Chancellor. He told students "I probably shouldn't."

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts brought the idea of VC Days to the attention of students across the country in December at the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts conference, and other universities have been engaging in similar actions of their respective VC Days.

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts will be holding another VC Day at the University of Bath at 12 noon on 2nd February, which will mark the date on which the Vice Chancellor will have earned twice as much as the lowest paid worker at the university.


There will also be a #FreeEducation march on Saturday 31st January, starting at Bath Abbey at 12 noon.

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March For Free Education, December 6th

Calling all activists, students and anyone who cares about free education! Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts have called a march. Their press release reads as follows:

Following on from the Free Education demonstration in London on 19^th November, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, a coalition of students from University of Bath and Bath Spa University, are organising a march in support of free education on Saturday 6^th December, starting at Bath Abbey at 12:30pm.

Using the tagline “Education is a Right, Not a Privilege”, the students and other groups and individuals who will be joining them are continuing the fight back against tuition fees and cuts.

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts are committed to keeping up the fight against tuition fees and the commercialisation of education.

Supporters can keep up to date on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/freeeducationbath

The Facebook event page for the march is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/882071801816928/

We caught up with Bath Spa University student Will Pettifer over the weekend, who explained why he will be attending the march.

"I object to the notion of education plunging young people into tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.

It is something that affects all students. Students are extremely angry and upset, but many feel like they have no choice. One of the purposes of demonstrations like this to show students that there is something they can do to change the situation."

"It is part of a nationwide campaign with other students and universities engaging in similar actions. We hope that through uniting with other students throughout the country, we will achieve our aims."

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