It is true, that unless a policy change is forced that the amount of money coming into HE will continue to diminish, pitting lecturers against students against institutions. Three corners are all fighting for more money as all find they have less. Lecturers have as genuine case for their slice of the pay as any, but what lecturers unions have realised is that the situation has moved on from simply and issue of pay and conditions to one of jobs themselves. If there are any real experts on student trends there are the lecturers who see them every day. These are the very people who have seen classes shrink before their very eyes, the people who students come and tell when they are dropping out or plea for more time for courseworks as they've been working in a warehouse every night that week.
Lecturers know that there is no point in getting more pay if there is no-one to teach.
By fighting for grants and an end to fees, lecturers are fighting for job security. The underfunding is caused by the double-edged sword that the Teaching and Higher Education 1998 act has proved to be. Not only did the Government introduce fees and scrap the grant, but they also insisted that this would mean Universities could actually attract more students, so they increased admissions targets. The former has led to a contraction of student numbers. This coupled with fewer students and bad debts of dropouts has lead to financial crisis in many institutions.