Strikes are on the cards at 10 more colleges, after the University and College Union (UCU) reballoted staff for industrial action over pay.

The 10 colleges met the 50 per cent turnout threshold for industrial action, so UCU members there can join colleagues at the six colleges that have already taken strike action during the industrial dispute in November.

The union said its officers would meet as soon as possible to discuss plans for further strikes.

Overall, 89 per cent of UCU members backed strike action.

‘Strength of feeling’ among staff

UCU head of policy Matt Waddup said: “It is a testament to the strength of feeling about their treatment that UCU members have voted in such large numbers to take strike action. Sixteen colleges will face significant disruption in the new year unless they agree to do more to address the pay and conditions of their staff. 

“Government cuts are hurting the further education sector, but too many colleges use them as an excuse to do little or nothing. Colleges that wish to avoid being targeted for action need to follow the example of CCCG group, which agreed a 5 per cent pay deal for staff. 

“More colleges would be facing strikes if it was not for the anti-trade union laws introduced by this government. These laws curtail people’s democratic right to strike in a manner that is not used in any other part of society.”

Colleges facing action

The colleges that met the threshold are:

• Abingdon and Witney College
• Bridgwater and Taunton College
• City of Wolverhampton College
• Coventry College
• East Sussex College
• Harlow College
• Hugh Baird College
• Kendal College
• Leicester College
• West Thames College

The six colleges that took action in November are:

• Bath College, Bradford College, Croydon College, Lambeth College, New College Swindon and Petroc in Devon

Industrial action in prospect

In their 2018-19 pay claim, the unions representing college employees have asked for a pay rise of 5 per cent, or a fixed increase of £1,500 for staff earning less than £30,000 per year.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) made a final offer of a 1 per cent increase, or £250 for staff earning less than £25,000 per year. The AoC represents colleges across England, which are then free to decide whether to implement the negotiated increase or make their own settlement.

The AoC had said that it would be willing to offer a larger increase if the Department for Education had funded it, as it had for schoolteachers. But the DfE indicated that it would not fund such a deal.

Unrest in Scotland

Meanwhile, strike action is also looming in Scotland, where lecturers have voted to take action over pay. In a ballot organised by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) Further Education Lecturers’ Association (FELA), which closed today, 90 per cent voted in favour of strike action over what lecturers feel is a failure by college management to offer a fair cost of living pay increase. Strike dates will be announced in due course, according to the union.

EIS-FELA president Pam Currie said: “We are taking this action as a last resort, as the result of management’s unwillingness to negotiate a fair offer. Lecturers do not take strike action lightly, and we have done everything that we can over the past two years of talks to attempt to reach a fair negotiated settlement.

“We have repeatedly sought to engage management in meaningful negotiations and formally submitted a revised claim based on public sector pay policy in line with the offer made to support staff. Even at this late stage, we hope that college management will now come back to the table to begin meaningful negotiations and deliver a cost of living increase similar to others in the public sector.”

John Gribben, director of employment services at Colleges Scotland Employers’ Association, said: “It is extremely disappointing that colleges are once again facing disruptive industrial action with the EIS-FELA looking to take lecturers out on strike for the third time in four years.

“At the heart of this dispute, is that the EIS-FELA will not accept that the pay increases from National Bargaining are increases in pay.  They also want more pay for cost of living.  The employers’ view is that a pay rise is a pay rise, irrespective of where it comes from, and the EIS-FELA has rejected a combined pay offer which would increase lecturers’ pay on average by more than 12 per cent over three years - this is the best pay offer anywhere across Scotland’s public services.”