Four higher education unions joined forces yesterday to strike over London weighting payments.

The action in the capital was complete with a cavalcade containing a stretch limousine of "fat-cat vice-chancellors" chased by an open-top bus - all to the tune of The Kinks' song Tired of Waiting .

Staff want an increase in London weighting. Those in pre-1992 universities have not received an increase to their £2,134 lump sum for ten years.

The Association of University Teachers, Natfhe, Unison and Amicus supported an increase to £4,000. They said the figure was modest compared with the £6,000 given to the Metropolitan Police. The figure is also much less than that recommended by the Greater London Authority and the Bett report into academic pay.

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The union's claim received a boost last week from a report by London First, a partnership of about 300 businesses, which said that public-sector workers should receive at least £4,000 a year, and that those earning less than £35,000 a year should be given access to affordable housing.

AUT general secretary Sally Hunt said: "Employers and unions agree that recruitment and retention in London is in crisis. Many university staff can no longer afford to stay in the capital."

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The strike, supported by the University of London student's union, is the first of a series of protests.

Jocelyn Prudence, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, said: "The issues would be best addressed in our negotiations with the unions about fundamental reform of pay arrangements."

CAPITAL COSTS

• Most academics in old universities get a £2,134 London weighting; those in new universities get £603-£2,355
  
  
• Manual staff receive between £457 and £2,046
  
  
• Police get a £6,000 London weighting, teachers £3,000
  
  
• The average London house costs more than £200,000
  
  
• Property prices are expected to drive 60,000 key workers from the capital in the next decade