Staff at 26 Further Education (FE) colleges will take ten days of strike action starting on Monday 26 September demanding ‘a significant pay rise’, the University and College Union (UCU) announced yesterday.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘College staff deliver excellent education but over the last twelve years their pay has fallen behind inflation by 35% and now thousands are skipping meals, restricting energy use and considering leaving the sector altogether.
‘College leaders need to wake up to this crisis, stop dining off the goodwill of their workforce and make a serious pay offer. Failure to do so will lead to the largest strike action that English Further Education has ever seen.’
Chris Anglin, UCU Chair Conel (College of North East London told News Line: ‘College lecturers have suffered pay cuts with below inflation pay settlements for 10 years. Colleges are pursuing fire and rehire polices at Richmond in south west London and the surge in inflation will cost colleges millions – they will undoubtedly take it out on the workforce.
‘This must be met by a national strike against the government’s lack of funding for colleges and universities.
‘Last week, the TUC called off its annual conference which was due to be held in Brighton this week.
‘The TUC conference must be recalled immediately and instead of “coordinated action” of various individual strikes, it must call a general strike to bring down this Tory government now.’
The UCU strikes announced yesterday are:
Week 1: Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 September (three days);
Week 2: Thursday 6th and Friday 7th October (two days);
Week 3: Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 October (two days);
Week 4: Tuesday 18 Wednesday, 19 and Thursday 20 October (three days).
The strikes come after 89.9% of UCU members voted YES (in July) to strike action on an overall turnout of 57.9%, which is the biggest mandate for industrial action across English FE colleges since the 50% turnout threshold was brought into force in 2016.
UCU is demanding a pay offer reflecting the soaring costs college staff face. Since 2009, pay in FE has fallen behind inflation by 35% and the pay gap between school and college teachers stands at around £9k.
In June, the Association of Colleges made a pay recommendation of just 2.5%, while RPI inflation is 12.3% and is predicted to hit 20% by January.