Dodgy pay figures used by hugely wealthy university driving anger amongst workers

There has been an increase in the number of Imperial College London workers taking industrial action over pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said as it announced further strikes.  

Unite membership at Imperial has increased by 10 per cent due to the dispute and is continuing to grow, with other unions also reporting an increase in new members at the university.

Workers are angry that the university’s management is refusing to restart talks even after it was revealed that faulty benchmarking data was used to calculate an insulting two per cent pay deal it has imposed on the workforce.

This imposed deal is in effect a substantial real-terms pay cut, as RPI inflation currently stands at 4.5 per cent. This equates to staff having to work for a week for free this year.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Imperial has attacked its workers’ wages and done so on calculations that it has admitted are flawed. It needs to correct its figures and put forward a fair pay offer – something it has more than enough money to do. Strikes will continue with Unite’s total backing until that happens.”

Specialist sciences university Imperial College London is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. Its latest financial report showed it had a total income of £1.33 billion in 2024 up from £1.27bn in 2023 - £81 million more than it expected, with only a fraction having been allocated to additional staff pay.

Around 1,200 teaching and non-teaching workers are involved in the dispute, including around 250 Unite members.

The workers took four days of strike action in October. They will walk out again on 13, 14, 25, 26, 27 and 28 November. Industrial action will intensify if the dispute is not resolved.

Unite regional officer Ahlam Khamliche said: “Imperial College seems to think that it can wait these workers out and they will go quietly go back to work. That’s not going to happen – their resolve is rock solid. Imperial College’s management need to admit their mistake and reopen talks so a fair deal can be found.”

ENDS

For media enquires ONLY contact senior Unite communications officer Ryan Fletcher on 07849 090215 or 020 3371 2065.

Email: ryan.fletcher@unitetheunion.org

Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest union with members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.