The University of Otago has made the unusual step of offering its staff a $1000 one-off payment instead of a pay rise.
Tertiary Education Union (TEU) organiser Shaun Scott said it had rejected the offer and was instead calling on the university to make a $1200 payment ''on the rates'' - meaning the university would need to make the payment again in future years.
''We note that other universities are managing to put salary increases on the rates and Otago is the only one that isn't,'' Mr Scott said.
If either offer was approved, staff earning less stood to benefit over those on higher salaries.
If the $1200 offer was approved, anyone earning more than $75,000 would get an increase of less than 1.6% - which was the rate of cost-of-living increases when wage negotiations began.
If the university did not put the payment ''on the rates'', staff would essentially be taking a pay cut in ''real terms'' in the following year, he said.
Mr Scott said the offer of a one-off payment was ''unusual'' and not something he had seen in the 14 years he had been involved in the union at the university.
The university had cited static or declining funding and increasing costs as the basis for its offer.
Bargaining is expected to resume late next week.
University human resources director Kevin Seales declined yesterday to answer questions on the payout, saying, ''Negotiations are still under way, therefore there is nothing to add at this point.''
TEU deputy secretary Nanette Cormack said in a union update on the issue that staff should not bear the brunt of tighter financial times.
''Union members also face significant cost-of-living increases, and unless salary rates increase, real salaries decline.
''Universities need to prioritise their staff to ensure the standard of living for workers in universities does not decline.''
With the university employing 3752 fulltime equivalent staff last year, the offer of $1000 per staff member would cost it roughly $3.7 million if it went ahead.
