Lecturers battle redundancies amidst ‘eye-watering’ hikes in executive pay
Martin Shipton
Bangor University staff are planning a protest demonstration against proposed compulsory redundancies amid big hikes in executive pay.
The demo will take place on Thursday June 12 at 2pm by the Bangor War Memorial on Deiniol Rd .
Staff have branded Bangor Vice Chancellor Professor Edmund Burke’s recent 13% pay rise and salary of £273,000 as “a kick in the teeth.”
The current redundancy consultation aims at cutting £5m with 126 posts earmarked to be made redundant – equivalent to 80 full time equivalent posts. Staff had already consented to defer a pay rise to mitigate the pressure on university finances.
Shocked
With the long-delayed publication of the 2023-24 financial report at the end of May 2025, staff say they were shocked to learn that the Vice Chancellor and executive had received an inflation-busting pay rise in 2024. The report also outlines how the 13 “key management personnel” at the top of Bangor University were paid a combined sum of £2,828,000.
At a recent online broadcast made to staff, Vice Chancellor Burke answered a pre-submitted question on whether he and the executive would agree to take a pay cut by saying: “At this moment in time, I do not plan to recommend a pay cut to the executive board”.
‘Concerning trends’
A University and College Union branch spokesperson said: “Bangor University’s annual report highlighted some concerning trends. Even as the overall number of staff went down by nearly 3%, the number of staff earning £100,000 or more increased by nearly 50%. The report also showed the Vice Chancellor earning a pay rise of 13%, with the ratio of pay to the median salary going up to 6.65 from 6.17 two years prior.
“This year, a further 250 staff members have already left as a result of voluntary severance. The staff left behind will be doing more work for no additional pay. Our members are consistently being told that we must do more with less. Our members are told that they should propose job-sharing and reduced working hours to avoid compulsory redundancy. It is only fair for the same to apply to the University Executive.
“We have made it clear to management from day one that compulsory redundancies are a red line that cannot be crossed. We are prepared to take action against these cuts that threaten our members’ livelihoods and impact our students through degraded course quality and worse student experience.
“By proposing compulsory redundancies, Bangor University Executive are preparing to cross a Rubicon that no Welsh University has crossed in more than 15 years. The Vice Chancellor must pull back from the brink and immediately rule out compulsory redundancies.”
Another UCU member anonymously added: “I was laid off with the explanation that it was not possible to renew my fixed-term contract given the university’s financial situation. Therefore, it is a real kick in the teeth to see the Vice Chancellor get a pay rise in excess of my entire salary, even if it was in the previous financial year”.
‘Undermine’
Gareth Lloyd, UCU Cymru Wales Official said: “This news can only further undermine staff’s confidence in Bangor University’s leadership. Our UCU branch has already identified serious issues and inconsistencies in management’s proposals.”
“Across Wales, we find no other sector where workers experience pay freezes and the constant threat of job losses. All of this will inevitably combine to weaken courses, hurt learners and further harm the local community.
“We urge the Vice Chancellor to rule out compulsory redundancies in 2025. Failure to do so risks a withering round of sustained industrial action”.
Bangor University has been invited to comment.
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A Parasite Economy where Bow Ties and CEO’s etc take all without a shred of conscience in every walk of Welsh Life…Immoral from the top, down to the middle…
Fat cats rule OK says the Burke sitting on top of the pile at Bangor Uni. If the guy was running a business or a public service that was delivering real results then maybe that chunk of rewards would be deserved. But he and his team are not. Like most universities they underachieve, are bloated, with sub standard outputs both in terms of research performance and employability of their graduates.
How is this possible? He’s earning the salary of ten people, the salary increase alone is higher than many people’s annual salary! With everything going on in higher education in Wales, redundancies left right and centre, a bumper salary increase shows a serious lack of judgement by the University’s leaders. How on earth are they earning so much?
The least he and his executives can do is take a voluntary pay cut and give back the extra they took this year. The Welsh Government needs to look at this and set a maximum level for public sector pay.
A pay cap would be popular, though quite difficult to legally implement as universities are essentially autonomous and no longer public sector. In my view, the WG should still try to pursue this, even if it ends up at a dead end.Universities have their own governance structures that determine how salaries are set, and can use those structures to hide behind. The ridiculous thing is that one of the criteria for pay increases is through benchmarking the other institute! The sad thing about Bangor university is that the senior staff are definitely not top tier, and Bangor does not need… Read more »
If the Vice-Chancellor receives £273,000 a year ( not excessive compared with other CEOs), the other 12 members of the executive average very nearly £220,000 EACH.
That IS excessive!
Rewards of underperformance – bench marked against other underperformers !
Usually the captain goes down with the ship but it looks like this guy is milking whatever he can from it, throwing it in the only lifeboat and rowing off while everyone else is left on board doing their best to keep it afloat. I have taken voluntary redundancy at the university and my heart breaks for my friends and colleagues left behind who are dependent upon their university income to survive and support their families. The atmosphere there at the moment is unbearable.
I’m sorry to hear this. Good luck for the future. The mental health toil on employees and your friends must be horrendous.
I feel senior management in such institutions are so remote from the bulk of staff, and don’t see that side of life. I think all senior staff should be expected to lecture, or a couple of days per month experiencing work in one of the service functions. I know two members of the exec in Bangor, and they really aren’t overworked, or worth their salt.