Staff from porters to professors were on strike at 40 universities and higher education colleges across the capital today in pursuit of higher London weighting allowances.
Lecturers' unions claimed their second day of action had disrupted all the city's higher education institutions, with about 120,000 students being affected. Four unions - the lecturers' unions Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers, with Amicus and Unison representing support staff - are seeking a London weighting allowance of £4,000. The allowance has been frozen at £2,134 for staff at the University of London, while supplements range from between £603 and £2,355 in the new universities. Police, the unions point out, are paid £6,000.
The unions are due to meet the Universities and Colleges Employers Association next week for talks. A joint statement from the unions said that funds were available for universities to address difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. "Just about every subject in London has staff recruitment problems. The secretary of state, Charles Clarke, has said he is well aware of extra cost pressures in London. Funds exist to tackle these extra costs and should be used for improving London weighting allowances."
The staff unions said students also needed more help with the extra costs of London. "The new grants and student support measures announced recently are not enough for students living and studying in the capital."
AUT general secretary Sally Hunt said: "During the last 11 years house prices in the capital have increased by 155% and yet the capital supplement for staff at the University of London has been frozen. For many of our members even buying a flat or having a family is completely out of the question.
"The last time London Weighting was increased for University of London staff President George Bush Senior and President Yeltsin had just announced the end of the Cold War - that is simply unacceptable," she added.
A group of protesters gathered outside the offices of the Department for Education and Skills in Westminster to present a petition to Mr Clarke outlining the aim of the strike.
Among those protesting was David Thompson, an AUT member from the University of Westminster, who said he would not have been "seen dead" on a picket line 10 years ago, "but the world has changed".
"We have to show the employers that we are still serious about this," he said. "In November we surprised them, and they were hoping it would go away, but it's not."
He said the London weighting issue was contributing to a staff shortage in the sector. An attempt last year by his university to employ someone from Derby failed when the issue of money was raised. "He couldn't possibly afford to come."
"It's just squeeze, squeeze, squeeze," he said.
Jane Coles, a former deputy head at an east London comprehensive, took a large pay cut when she chose to become a teacher training lecturer at Goldsmith College.
She said if she had stayed at the school she would have been earning about £50,000, instead she is earning around £34,000.
"My partner and I are seriously considering moving out of London."
Her colleague at Goldsmiths, Clare Kelly, added: "Who will want to take that cut? You've got to be a teacher to train them.
"We have taken big pay cuts to train teachers and I think that is something that, increasingly, potential lecturers are not going to want to do."
The National Union of Students is supporting today's strike. NUS National President, Mandy Telford, said the increased cost of living and studying in London was already polarising students and was forcing the best lecturers and staff out of the capital.
"With students being asked once again to stump up to address the years of underfunding across the higher education sector it is imperative that university staff are properly paid. Students do not want to be taught by poorly paid overworked lecturers," said Ms Telford.
