UNIVERSITY staff at Southampton have launched a campaign insisting their new vice-chancellor should pay staff the real living wage and should not earn 20 times more than the lowest-paid employee.

University & College Union (UCU) members created a petition over pay after vice-chancellor Sir Christopher Snowden said he will retire in spring 2019.

But the union branch says that management has displayed a lack of interest in meaningful consultation with staff or students ahead of a new appointment.

Mr Snowden’s tenure attracted widespread criticism. While he sought to cut jobs, it was revealed that he had a £433,000 pay package and advertised for a chauffeur for senior members of staff.

UCU Southampton branch president Catherine Pope said: “Staff here feel demoralised and devalued after several years of restructuring and a summer of redundancies and cuts to front-line staff.

“The appointment of a new vice-chancellor can have a profound effect on the reputation of the University of Southampton and on the lives of all who work and study here.”

The UCU will present its petition on Wednesday November 28 at the meeting of the university’s council, the body responsible for the selection of the new vice-chancellor.

“Council has to get this next appointment right and, along with the senior management, start listening to staff concerns,” Ms Pope said.

“Staff and students rightly feel aggrieved that the vice-chancellor takes home over £400,000 a year when staff face redundancies and some of the lowest-paid workers on campus rely on foodbanks.”