A strike that started today and has hit 15 colleges across the country is set to continue in the coming weeks, it emerged today.
Many hundreds of college lecturers have taken strike action in a dispute between the University and College Union (UCU) and the Association of Colleges (AoC) that centres on pay.
Some 1,700 UCU members have taken part in today’s strike, according to the union. Tomorrow will see members at 14 colleges continue the strike into a second day.
The UCU is already planning three further days of action between now and the end of April, according to Andrew Harden, the union’s head of FE.
Speaking to Tes before a rally in Westminster earlier today, marking the start of the FE strike, he said: “We’ve already notified the bulk of those colleges that there will be three further days of action between now and 30 April.” Mr Harden added: “The ballot paper was explicit that what members were being balloted on was escalating strike action.”
Clash over pay
The dispute arose after the AoC offered a 1 per cent pay increase to staff - an offer the UCU said failed to address the years of pay freezes in FE. While staff at all affected institutions are taking action over pay, at some colleges the dispute also focuses on concerns about working conditions, including workload and holiday entitlement.
Karen Rajapakse, a maths lecturer at New City College in London, was one of those who went on strike today. She told Tes: “We’ve had no proper pay rise since about 2009. People at college are really fed up. We can’t go on working for this rate of salary - it’s ridiculous.”
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt told the rally, held at Westminster Central Hall, London: “We are going to be on strike and we are going to pull that money out of that sector if it’s the last thing we do because FE members of staff work very very hard and do a really fantastic job and they deserve decent levels of pay.”
Other speakers at the rally included shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden and shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, who expressed her support for the FE strike, saying: “Your cause is good and it’s just.”
Students ‘will suffer’
A spokesman for the AoC said: “Only 7 per cent of UCU members voted to strike. It is clear that there is no mandate for national action for what is a recognised national negotiation.” He added that the strike will have more of an impact on the students in those colleges affected “than it will have on the government, which has starved colleges of the investment we need to support better pay”.
“We value the contribution of the sector workforce and it is not acceptable that teachers in schools are earning on average £37,000, compared with only £30,000 in colleges. We will continue to pressure government until the inadequate funding levels for further education are addressed,” he said.
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