'There hasn't been the same investment in people as there is in bricks and mortar': College lecturers and staff form picket line outside Wolverhampton College in dispute over pay and working conditions
There has been a show of solidarity among staff and lecturers at Wolverhampton College as they united in going on strike.
The members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Wolverhampton College have joined 24 other institutions across England in walking out in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
The strike action started on Wednesday with a picket line outside the new City Learning Quarter campus in Wolverhampton, with a second day of strike action seeing the picket line formed outside the Wellington Road campus in Bilston.
More than 100 people have been involved in the strike action in the past two days, which will culminate with a national rally in Westminster on Friday, and a large group could be seen outside the campus in Bilston with placards demanding a better deal and fairer pay.
UCU chairman Adam Dwight spoke about the main reasons for striking, saying that he felt that the pay levels in England were not comparable to the rest of the UK.
He said: "The reason for the strike is that further education colleges in England are an outlier, which means that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, college lecturers, teachers and staff have parity of pay and conditions with school teachers and that's not the case in England.
"We're actually paid on average £7,000 to £8,000 a year less than school teachers and we just don't think that's right with all the so-called government agenda around skills and investment in training young people and adults.
