University of Cape Town staff strike over fair pay and inequality

At the centre of the dispute are union claims that UCT’s pay structure positions academic staff at approximately the 75th market percentile, while PASS staff are positioned at around the 60th percentile. The unions argue that this approach structurally disadvantages support staff and entrenches income disparities within the institution. “PASS staff are systematically undervalued by design, not by accident,” the unions said in a joint statement.

“Equal percentages do not produce equal outcomes they protect high earners and widen the gap.” UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola rejected the suggestion that the benchmarking approach is unfair, saying the university uses RemChannel, a national salary benchmarking and remuneration survey system, to guide adjustments. Through RemChannel, Moholola said, academics are benchmarked against a comparator group within Higher Education South Africa (HESA), rather than the national all-jobs market, because recruitment and retention occur within the higher education sector. He confirmed that UCT’s prevailing pay policy adjusts salaries annually using RemChannel data to ensure alignment at the 75th percentile for academic staff and the 60th percentile of national jobs market data for PASS staff.

“It is worth noting that salaries of PASS staff within the bargaining unit (pay classes 1–12) are above the 60th percentile RemChannel benchmark except pay class 5,” he said. Salaries are also adjusted in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Moholola said the reference CPI in July 2025 was 3.5%, and the executive proposed a 3.5% increase for 2026 salary adjustments, which was implemented in February 2026 and backdated to January. Responding to claims that uniform percentage increases disproportionately benefit higher earners, Moholola said 2026 salary adjustments were not implemented uniformly.