Peter Lazenby
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FRESH waves of strike action are being launched at more than 20 colleges today as lecturers continue their fight for pay justice.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be on the picket lines until October 18.
The nationwide strikes are the biggest wave of industrial action ever to hit English colleges with around 4,000 staff on strike and tens of thousands of students affected.
In the north-west, three days of strike action begin today at Burnley, Liverpool and Oldham colleges.
Ten days of planned strike action will continue at Blackburn and West Lancashire colleges on Thursday.
Staff at The Manchester College will strike for three days from next Tuesday, October 11.
UCU said that the “worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory” had come after a decade of low pay which has seen lecturers’ pay fall by 35 per cent since 2009 compared to inflation.
RPI inflation stands at 12.3 per cent and the lecturers want a pay increase to match rising living costs.
UCU North West regional official Martyn Moss said: “Further education staff are taking unprecedented levels of strike action because they have no other choice.
“Twelve years of real-term wage cuts have left them ill-prepared for the cost of living crisis and they urgently need a pay rise.
“Where employers make serious offers that meaningfully raise pay we will put them to our members.
“The money is there to make fair pay offers and employers need to do so, otherwise they will see continued disruption.”
