Posted on 2014-04-08 | 04:42

A campaign to put pressure on Birmingham University to pay all its employees the living wage has been successful. The campaign was supported by Unite the Union and Birmingham Labour MPs, as well as students and staff members at the university.

Roger was among those calling for the university to pay the living wage, and he wrote to the head of the University of Birmingham to support the living wage strike action. The number of the university’s employees who require this increase to get their salary up to the level of a living wage is only a few hundred, and the estimated cost to the university is less than £100,000 per year.

Roger reminded the Vice Chancellor that he receives a salary approaching half a million pounds per year, and highlighted the unfairness of squeezing pay at the bottom while providing lavish increases at the top.

The university was initially extremely resistant to paying the living wage, even though this involved a pay increase to staff of just 20p per hour, or £7 per week, claiming it could not afford to pay staff a decent wage.