Napier staff unions blast "no pain" Principal over salary increase

The Edinburgh Napier University branches of two major trade unions have today publicly condemned university senior management for taking significant bumps in pay and benefits at a time when funding cuts have led to redundancies at the institution.

In a strongly-worded statement, the Napier chapters of UNISON and the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) blasted top university officials, including principal Professor Dame Joan Stringer, for increasing their own pay and pension contributions while cutting teaching and support services. "The last generous award to themselves by top management," a press release said, "was immediately followed by a rather brutal and poorly-justified redundancy process."

A Napier spokesman hit back at the claims, accusing the unions of "broadcasting half-truths and distorted information" and mounting "a cynical attempt... to spoil the launch of our new Sighthill campus."

The official declined to comment on specific allegations, saying that university administrators "do not want to dignify their deliberately inflammatory comments by responding further." He claimed, however, that "it is important for our students to know that the university is in good financial health and the student experience is not being downgraded."

But Mike Napier, EIS branch secretary, accused administrators of displaying "a readiness to shred people's lives who have worked here for many years", leading to "a climate of insecurity and distrust."

"It seems that for management, 'We need to share the pain at Edinburgh Napier really means 'We will share the pain among you," he said.

Prof Stringer, it is claimed, saw her salary and pension benefits increase by 60 per cent over the last eight years. University accounts show that in 2009/10, she was paid £202,000, an increase of £13,000 from the previous year. She also received £30,000 in employer pension contributions.

The unions have further claimed that student support services have been placed in jeopardy, warning that "the latest members of staff to be downgraded by the university are those that provide services to students with learning needs and disabilities", a situation they said was "worrying, given that the work of these members of staff ensures the university's public sector duty to advance equality of opportunity."

The EIS-UNISON statement called for a Scottish Government investigation into the use of public funds at Napier, noting that the government "promised no compulsory redundancies in the public sector and the protection of the higher education system.

"If those promises are to be kept," they said, "they will need to intervene here."