College staff strike across North West
NEU members are unhappy with pay and working conditions
Last updated 27th Nov 2023
National Education Union members at 16 Sixth Form Colleges in the North West are taking strike action on 30 November.
Some sites in Birkenhead, St Helens and Warrington are among those affected.
In total, there will be 77 Sixth Form Colleges across England taking industrial action on the same day.
NEU members have voted to take strike action in response to an inadequate pay offer from the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), which is well below inflation.
88.5% voted yes in the statutory ballot. Sixth form college teachers have seen a 20% cut in real terms pay since 2010. The SFCA’s offer would see most teachers receive a 5% pay award, rising to 8.9% for a small minority.
NEU sixth form teachers have declared that ‘enough is enough’ and are calling on the Secretary of State for Education to fully fund their pay demand of an inflation-plus rise.
Sixth form college teachers are specialist practitioners, who deliver high quality academic and vocational programmes through A Level, T Level and BTEC courses.
Peter Middleman, Regional Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The Chancellor’s latest budget statement on 17 November did nothing to address the problems with historic low-pay and under-funding in the Post-16 sector”.
“Like in primary and secondary schools, dedicated professionals in sixth-form colleges, who are preparing young people for the world of further study, vocational advancement and a challenging modern economy are being rewarded for their efforts with the largest real-terms pay cut in living memory and this is something our members are simply unwilling to tolerate from a government of millionaires and billionaires. The strength of the mandate for the strike speaks volumes: enough is enough”
“If the government led by Rishi Sunak is serious about a post-Brexit and post-pandemic recovery being based on rich-knowledge and high-skills, we need to see immediate evidence that they are prepared to release significant funding in order to help save the sector and ensure current and future generations have the same choice and opportunity for study that those presiding over the sector had in their own teenage years”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it is up to the colleges to set salaries and stressed it is investing more than £1bn into the sector in the academic year, starting 2024, compared to the last academic year.