Teaching staff in Northern Ireland’s six further education colleges will take a day of strike action next week over pay and conditions, the University and College Union has said.
The strike will be immediately followed by continuous action short of a strike. This will involve UCU members working only to contracted hours, refusing to work overtime and boycotting any additional duties.
The union is urging the Northern Ireland Assembly to address staff concerns urgently. UCU balloted its members after the employers made a pay offer of 7 per cent over four years. Overall, UCU said the offer amounted to an annual pay rise of 1.2 per cent over a nine-year period and a real-terms cut.
School teachers in Northern Ireland were offered pay increases of 2 per cent for 2019-20 and 2 per cent again for 2020-21.
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The UCU declared a dispute with Diane Dodds, minister for the economy, because college leaders say they cannot pay staff more unless the assembly increases college funding. The union said it cannot understand why the Department for the Economy seems to value the FE sector and its staff less than other teaching staff. Ms Dodds should intervene to achieve fair pay for college staff, the UCU said, adding that college lecturers had supported their students throughout the pandemic and deserved an increased pay offer just as much as school teachers.
Strike action over college teacher pay
UCU Northern Ireland official Katharine Clarke said there was no excuse for further education members continuing to receive such low pay compared with the rest of the education sector. “The refusal of minister Diane Dodds and the Department for the Economy to intervene to secure more funding for colleges and a proper pay rise for college lecturers suggests Stormont does not appreciate the value of further education. If these unfair pay levels continue, staff will be driven out of the sector,” she said.
“Unless the minister moves to address the situation, including making representations to the Department of Finance, the sector will be hit with continuous industrial action starting with a one-day strike on Wednesday 24 March.”
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “On top of their usual vital work, our members in colleges across Northern Ireland have worked flat out to support students throughout the pandemic. They deserve fair pay just as much as school teachers and NHS staff. Further education is absolutely central to society under any circumstances, but it will be even more crucial as we recover from Covid and face the challenges of a post-Brexit economy. Yet since 2013-14, college lecturers have received a measly 3.8 per cent pay rise, compared to 11.25 per cent for school teachers over the same period.”
Last month Scotland’s college lecturers voted in favour of strike action over what they say are plans by some institutions to replace lecturer posts with lower-paid trainer or assessor positions.
The Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA), which represents teaching staff in Scottish colleges, announced in a tweet that 90 per cent of members who had voted were in favour of strike action: “Their message is clear: lecturers should not be replaced by trainer/assessor roles.” However, with negotiations ongoing, strike action planned for last week was cancelled.
