An LS investigation has found there are staggering differences in pay rates between Union employees.

A ‘family tree’ of Union staff from a financial report reveals that monthly contracted cleaning and retail assistants are paid five times less than a Deputy Chief Executive or Resources Director. The pay gap works out at the lower earners making £13,363 annually over a 40 hour working week versus £68,025 for a higher earner.

The revelation comes at a time when the Union is under pressure to pay students the living wage.

In April 2013, an idea was put forward to pay students the living wage, stating that: “All staff at LUU, regardless of hours worked, whether they are permanent or temporary, students or non-students, deserve a wage that they can live on.”

The argument stated that students should be able to support themselves financially without having to rely on money from other sources, as well as avoiding a ‘debt culture’. The University has also been lobbied to pay its staff better wages by the Union despite failing to pay its own staff the living wage, which is currently £7.45 in Leeds.

A LUU spokesperson said: “We have a system of job evaluation. This provides a process to determine a grade based on a set of criteria and we [have] no plans to change this.”

They added: “there are no plans to implement [the living wage].”

Maddy Keating