[janeway]

All good points but here are three facts that I think are valid:

1. Even if salary comes from individual branches it falls under the institutional tree. Science is not individual.

2. Institution leaders understand that the workers are critical; unionised and enlightened workers will leave to industry for better pay. Both the hot shots and the lower scale.

3. While anecdotal, I had one of the best academic unions worldwide and probably the best academic salary worldwide. I do not think it is a spurious correlation.