Professors worse off

The Australian reports that academics' salaries haven't kept up with inflation by more than 25% over 35 years. Salaries for academics in Australia are determined by a bargain between each uni and a union. Neither state nor federal government has a say. So how can academics pin this on John Howard?

The federal government is not paying unis enough to pay academics. Perhaps the fact that academics are hardly rewarded for merit has nothing to do with it? It would be interesting to see a study of how productive academics are today compared to 35 years ago.