Staff at City of Wolverhampton College to stage three days of strike action in pay and conditions dispute
Staff at a Wolverhampton college will go on strike next week in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at City of Wolverhampton College and 24 other institutions across England will walk out from Wednesday to Friday (January 14 to 16), mounting picket lines outside colleges and holding a national rally in Westminster on Friday.
The UCU said its members at other colleges have settled their disputes following pay awards worth up to 8.7 per cent.
The union said it was pressing employers to work with them to implement meaningful sectoral bargaining, so further education can avoid the cycle of strike ballots and disruption seen over the past few years.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Industrial action is a last resort for our members, but staff up and down England have been left with no choice.
“There is still time for colleges to make fair offers that help close the pay gap between school and college teachers.
“Our demands are reasonable, and management at colleges where staff are taking action need to look at those that worked to settle their disputes.
“Employers must now agree to meaningful sectoral bargaining so further education can avoid the cycle of strike ballots and disruption that we have seen over the past few years.”
City of Wolverhampton College opened its new four-storey City Campus in Wolverhampton city centre in November.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said when the result of the strike ballot was announced: “I am disappointed to see college staff voting for strike action, and I hope it doesn’t come to fruition as it’s the students who will suffer.
“AoC and college leaders have shown over many years now how committed they are to improving pay and conditions, as far as their funding will allow. We know, as do the unions, that any campaigning and action really needs to be directed nationally to secure commitments and investment from Government to address the pay gap with schools and industry.
“That’s why we today launched our adult learning pays campaign. A campaign we hope the unions can get behind, because we need to put right the decimation of college funding we saw in the 2010s.”
