Lecturers claim they have lost money in real terms

University lecturers are to hold a strike ballot in the new year in pursuit of a higher pay increase.

The Association of University Teachers says that pay talks with university employers have broken down - and that it will be urging its members to support strike action.

The university sector, already facing a batle over tuition fees, now faces the threat of industrial action when lecturers return for the new term.

The union says that the pay offer promised an increase of 3.44% in the current year and a rise of 3% next year.

"This works out to be only just above inflation - even though ministers have awarded universities an extra 6% above inflation, for the next two years," says the union.

Funding shortage

There are also claims that restructuring lecturers' pay would lead to lower salary rises on the pay scale and "widespread" downgrading of staff.

The lecturers' union claimed that employers' negotiators had "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" - and that a ballot would be held between 13th January and 11th February.

Universities, which are seeking a substantial funding increase, have argued that they already face a �10bn shortfall.

If lecturers vote to take industrial action, the AUT says that it will begin with an "initial strike, followed by action short of a strike. This will include boycotts of assessment activity, call-out cover, all job evaluation exercises, and all staff appraisal schemes".