Napier porters in bonus row

Cleaners and portering staff have been offered £80 extra in their pay packets, with Unison claiming principal Professor Dame Joan Stringer was being given a bumper gift of £1000, something the university has denied.

Marilyn Philip, Unison branch chair at the university, said: “There might be nothing like a Dame – but this is nothing like a fair Christmas bonus.”

A spokeswoman for the university said: “The principal and her senior staff will not be receiving this payment, nor was it the principal’s intention that they ever should. We are disappointed that the unions did not check the accuracy of their assertions before issuing their statement.”