SOUTH AFRICA: Cap higher education pay, say unions

Capping the pay of top managers at public higher education institutions was a step in the right direction, but all salaries at these institutions should be subject to government guidelines, two higher education staff unions said last week, reports Sue Blaine for Business Day.

The government has proposed that the total cost of all senior university and university of technology management salaries be capped at 6% of each institution's total staff cost. Former Education Minister Naledi Pandor promised last year to put an end to vice-chancellors' exorbitant salaries - in 2007 some earned more than the R1,6m she did.

Institutions' ability to pay staff had become the source of "unhealthy competition", often leaving poorer institutions without staff, or ruining themselves in the attempt to lure qualified staff, said the National Tertiary Education Staff Union and the National Union of Tertiary Employees of South Africa in a joint submission on a government policy document.
Full report on the Business Day site