Staff to strike at Nelson and Colne College in pay row

Classes will be cancelled as Nelson and Colne is being targeted for action by members of the University and College Union (UCU).
 
The ground-breaking national pay deal, thrashed out in 2004, should have a left a mid-ranking further education lecturer earning £4,511 more a year (see note below). UCU has described the failure by Nelson and Colne College to honour the deal as one of the longest IOUs from management to staff in the history of industrial relations.
 
Nelson and Colne UCU branch chair, Alison Gander, said: 'Lecturers at this college already work far beyond their contractual obligations, with evenings and weekends often taken up with marking and lesson preparation.  We care about the work we do, we care about our students and we care about the future of our college. Staff have been waiting since 2004 for management to implement recommendations that were agreed nationally six years ago.'
 
UCU head of further education, Barry Lovejoy, said: 'It is completely unacceptable for Nelson and Colne College to be still holding out. We have made it clear that we are willing to discuss flexible agreements to implement the deal, as we have at many other colleges, but the intransigence of the college has pushed members' patience too far and forced them into industrial action.'

Note to editors

In 2003/4, a two-year national agreement was drawn up that heralded pay parity for college lecturers with schoolteachers. Thousands of further education lecturers had been unable to reach the higher pay levels enjoyed by schoolteachers, 50% of whom get extra allowances worth between £2,364 and £11,557 per annum on top of their basic earnings. The deal introduced shorter new scales that provided higher salaries for new lecturers and faster progression to the top points.