Foto Guy Ackermans In times of austerity, professors’ salaries should not increase too much, says Groningen associate professor Laura Batstra. Rather, the money should be given to those receiving less pay. Her petition has already been signed 437 times.
A little less is fine for Batstra. She is “only” an associate professor and is already making well over eight thousand euros a month, she says. Most full professors make more, with salaries that can reach as high as twelve thousand a month before taxes. And now, the unions are calling for a 7 per cent increase. A good idea for the lower salary scales, according to Batstra, but not for those in the higher scales. ‘Why should those already making the most get the biggest increase?’
Pennies
Employers and unions are currently negotiating a new collective labour agreement, which is to be finalised in June. Batstra hopes the salary increase will not be determined as a percentage but as a sum. If everyone receives the same sum, the increase in salary for those receiving lower salaries will be greater than for those who are already paid more. ‘Pennies instead of percentages’ is the motto from the seventies, which Batstra has reinvigorated with two Groningen University colleagues, Laurent Krook and professor Dirk-Jan Scheffers.
This is the only austerity measure among them all that does no damage
Laura Batstra, associate professor in Groningen
According to her calculations, an average professor will receive some 650 euros more with the new union demand. An associate professor receives “only” 400 euros extra. The sums are even lower for those working in supporting jobs. The Groningen academics propose a fixed sum rather than a percentage for those in scales 12 and higher. Batstra: ‘The cost of living has increased for everyone. However, the less wealthy have fewer options to protect themselves from inflation. They don’t have solar panels and can’t isolate their rental homes to economise on energy costs.’
Petition
The unions are aware of this option. FNV administrator Sam Verduijn declines to comment during the negotiations for a new collective labour agreement but says: ‘We are always in favour of balancing and are open to ideas that could contribute to it.’ Batstra and her colleagues initiated a petition, which has already been signed 646 times today. She hopes that the Universities of the Netherlands, negotiating on behalf of the employers, will pick up on it. ‘UNL was not open to it before, ’ Batstra says.
UNL states that levelling measures have been included in previous collective labour agreements. The overarching organisation cites the relatively greater salary increases for the lower pay scales in previous agreements as well as one-off payments, which are equal for everyone, and this relatively higher for those earning lower salaries. But, UNL warns: ‘The universities must remain a desirable employer for those in the higher salary scales as well.’
Budget cuts
‘Well…’ There is silence at the other end of the phone while Batstra considers UNL’s argument. ‘That is a frequently used argument; that you won’t get good employees if you don’t pay enough. I feel that’s a bit offensive. As if people can only be good if they ask for high wages.’
Batstra has felt that the top salaries are too high for a while, but the government budget cuts are what sparked her to act. ‘We may be outraged by the layoffs, and I, too, am horrified, but we can save millions if the highest-paid employees accept that they don’t receive a greater pay increase, but one equal to the rest. This is the only austerity measure among them all that does no damage.’