2022-23

October update 2

As action short of a strike (ASOS) and rolling action continues in the six further education colleges in Northern Ireland, the employers are feeling the effects. In a message to all staff yesterday, the CEO of Southern Regional College reported 'a recent review has identified that 4000+ registers are not complete for the 2023-24 academic year'. This shows the effectiveness of UCU's action and the pressure it is creating within the system. It is important members continue to abide by the union's instruction to create the maximum leverage possible to win this dispute.

October update 1

As strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS) continue in all six colleges in Northern Ireland, UCU's campaign message is being heard and adopted by the Northern Ireland's political parties. You can read statements of support from Sinn Féin, The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) also confirmed that it wrote to the Department for the Economy permanent secretary expressing concern for the plight of lecturer staff.

September 2023 update 2

Staff at all six further education colleges across Northern Ireland will strike for five days (Monday 18 to Friday 22 September 2023) in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. Thereafter, each college will take one day of strike action once every six days for the next three months.

UCU said it has been forced to take action after a decade of their members being subject to pay freeze, followed by pay restraint, which has seen lecturer pay awards limited to between 1 % and 2% per year. Click here for the full update.

September 2023 update 1

After the imposition of 1% awards for the last two years, continuing the treatment of Northern Ireland lecturers as the poor relations of the education sector, UCU has today notified all six college employers of widespread escalation of industrial action.

We are asking Northern Ireland FE members to tune into a live broadcast with general secretary Jo Grady and president-elect and national FEC chair Maxine Looby, on Monday 11 September 2023 at 12:45 as they set out the next steps in UCU's campaign for a fair deal for Northern Ireland lecturers. The broadcast will be recorded and available for viewing during and after the event: Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

June 2023

More than 1,700 lecturers in FE colleges in Northern Ireland have been told they will not receive a £3,000 one-off payment they had expected. UCU said the damage to industrial relations was 'immeasurable'. The employers in the six FE colleges said the Department for Economy (DfE) would not approve the payment without agreement on a wider pay deal. Click here for the report in BBC News NI which includes a response from UCU Northern Ireland official Katherine Clarke.

April 2023

UCU and NASUWT, which represent FE lecturers in Northern Ireland, have rejected a derisory pay offer of 1% for 2021-22 and 1% for 2022-23 (BBC News NI, 24 April 2023).

February 2023

In response to lecturers not yet receiving payment for the 2021/22 pay award, coupled with a failure by DfE to allocate college budgets, the Northern Ireland further education committee (FEC) took the decision to escalated action short of strike (ASOS) in the ongoing dispute about pay and workload. From the week of Monday 20 February 2023, members have been instructed not to co-operate with Education Training Inspectorate (ETI) inspection, to maintain registers in Excel or paper format rather than input to the EBS system, and to refuse co-operation with the DfE's FE Review until such time the department allocates a budget to the employers enabling resolution of the lecturer pay dispute. Authority has also been granted by the national officers for further escalation should such become necessary.

January 2023

The Northern Ireland further education committee (FEC) voted unanimously before Christmas 2022 to escalate the industrial action campaign regarding pay and workload. Corporate staff have received an acceptable pay award while not so much as an offer has been made to FE lecturers in Northern Ireland.

FEC are asking members to complete a survey, which has already been sent to Northern Ireland FE members, regarding forms of action short of a strike (ASOS) and level of strike action.

August 2022

The negotiations are still ongoing and UCU Northern Ireland is expecting to be in the position to issue an update to the Northern Ireland FE membership towards the end of 2022.

March 2022

After delay at government level progressing the Northern Ireland FE pay agreement, UCU wrote to the Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance threatening an escalation of industrial action if payment was not made in the March salary. The matter has now been resolved and negotiations for the 2021/22 salary round will resume. Members continue in ASOS while negotiators press for pay parity with schoolteachers.

Preamble

Agreement has been reached with the employers for lecturers to receive 2+2% pay increase for years 2019/20 and 2020/21. UCU previously rejected an offer of 7% payable over 4 years which came with a number of unacceptable strings attached in the form of regressive contractual change. This offer equates to 4% over two years with no preconditions. While this is a considerable improvement, there is still a long way to go to close the pay gap with schoolteachers and university lecturers. Action short of a strike (ASOS) remains in place but the trade unions have given a commitment not to escalate industrial action to allow fresh talks to commence in 2022. Members will continue to work to their contract but no work will be done in excess of it.

2021-22 pay

After delay at government level progressing the Northern Ireland FE pay agreement, UCU wrote to the Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance threatening an escalation of industrial action if payment was not made in the March salary.

The matter has now been resolved and negotiations for the 21/22 salary round will resume. Members continue in ASOS while negotiators press for pay parity with schoolteachers.

2020-21 dispute

The Northern Ireland FE employers advised in February 2021 that the most they could offer for a pay increase without additional funding from government is 7% over four years. As a consequence, UCU  declared a formal trade dispute with the minister for the economy [191kb].

The school teacher pay award took their pay increase from 2013/14 to the present to 11.25%. By contrast FE lecturers have received 3.8% over the same period.

Following strike action on 24 March at all six colleges UCU members are now undertaking a campaign of continuous 'action short of strike' in an effort to resolve the dispute. This will see UCU members only working to contracted hours, refusing to work overtime, and boycotting any additional duties.

In January 2022 it was announced that an agreement had been reached with the employers for lecturers to receive 2+2% pay increase for years 2019/20 and 2020/21. UCU's previously rejected offer of 7% payable over four years came with a number of unacceptable strings attached in the form of regressive contractual change. This offer equates to 4% over two years with no preconditions.

While this is a considerable improvement, there is still a long way to go to close the pay gap with schoolteachers and university lecturers. ASOS will remain in place but the trade unions have given a commitment not to escalate industrial action to allow fresh talks to commence in 2022. Members will continue to work to their contract but no work will be done in excess of it.

In November 2020, Emma Sherrin MLA had questioned minister Dodds about lecturers' struggle for fair pay and working conditions.

UCU originally declared a dispute about pay and working conditions in all six of Northern Ireland's FE colleges in October 2020 following an attempt by employers to blackmail staff into giving up workload protections and trade union agreements. Read Jo Grady's letter to members here.