Peter Lazenby
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RENEWED strike action will be launched by 2,000 teachers at 32 sixth-form colleges in England from Tuesday.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) will walk out for three days, adding to four days of strike action already taken.
Teachers in sixth form colleges which have become academies have been given a 5.5 per cent pay rise, compared with a 3.5 per cent proposed for teachers at non-academies, the NEU said.
The union is in dispute with the government-funded Sixth-Form Colleges Association (SFCA), which it accuses of creating a two-tier workforce.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Teachers take strike action with great reluctance, but our members in non-academised sixth-forms have been left with little choice.
“It was a clear error by government not to provide funding for pay equivalent to that granted to academised peers. It is not too late for them to correct this mistake.
“The NEU has made every effort to reason with government, but a fully funded fair pay award for every college is still not forthcoming.
“Pay justice must mean a fair, above-inflation pay award for all. Our members are determined to fight for what they clearly deserve.”
The NEU said the cost of meeting the additional 2 per cent pay increase would be £1.5 million, which it described as “small beer — just 0.5 per cent of the £300m additional funding provided to further education in the Chancellor’s most recent Budget.”
The teachers voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action and staged a protest march on the Department for Education (DfE) on November 28.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ensuring people have the skills they need for the future is crucial to this government’s number one mission to grow the economy. We recognise the vital role that further education, including sixth form colleges, play in this.
“Sixth form colleges are responsible for the setting of appropriate pay for their workforce and for managing their own industrial relations.
“The October Budget provided an additional £300m revenue funding for further education to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.”
The SFCA has been contacted for comment.
