Nottingham University will face a global academic boycott within 7 weeks unless it negotiates a pay and grading settlement in line with that agreed between national university employers and AUT in March 2004.

The move follows their latest offer which backtracks on a previous commitment given by the university to honour the national agreement.

This follows a long-running dispute over pay in which the leading Russell Group University has consistently refused to negotiate in good faith with AUT. Their latest offer introduces performance related pay for staff, would lead to reductions in career earnings of nearly £9,000 over six years for some and remove the entitlement to belong to the national university pension scheme for others.

AUT General Secretary Sally Hunt has written to Sir Colin Campbell, vice-chancellor of Nottingham demanding he stick to the national agreement, and stating that AUT: 'stands ready to negotiate' to resolve the differences between us'. If the university is unwilling to negotiate in line with the national agreement then the AUT will 'Greylist' Nottingham from 20 September.

Greylisting is the ultimate professional sanction in the academic world. It would mean that academics across the globe would refuse to cooperate with the university, in effect banishing it from the global academic community. For a leading international university like Nottingham this could have serious implications for its reputation both at home and abroad.

Such a step is never taken lightly and AUT sincerely hopes that the university management will see sense and avoid the need for Greylisting.

Sally Hunt, AUT general secretary said: 'University staff have shown the patience of saints in their dealings with Nottingham University. Sadly the management have consistently ignored and undermined the national agreement on pay. Their latest backtracking on a previous commitment is the last straw.

'Triggering a global academic boycott of a leading university is a serious step for us to take. Greylisting is something we rarely threaten to use and because of this it is a step that academics and our sister unions across the globe will support vigorously.'

Greylisting is a procedure used sparingly by academic unions across the world, the effect of which is to call on university staff to have no dealings with the institution in question. This means for example, not attending conferences at Nottingham and not collaborating on research with academics at the institution. It has not been used by AUT for over 5 years.

The national agreement on pay was reached after AUT members took industrial action across the UK in the spring. Nottingham University signed up to the national agreement at this time, and gave a local commitment to negotiate in line with it. The resolution of the dispute involved all universities and trade unions, including AUT, signing up to a National Framework on new salary scales and grading structures. In addition AUT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the universities at talks brokered by the TUC. It sets out how the Framework will be applied to academic and academic-related staff in the 'old' university sector.