Valentine's Day strike on at Halesowen College as union demands answers

• Picket at the college as staff protest over unjust dismissals of four maths lecturers  
• UCU demands answers to serious allegations about employment practices
• Staff will attempt to deliver giant Valentine's Day card to college managers

UCU said the college must answer serious questions about the timings of the sackings and the appointment of the lecturers' replacements. UCU has learnt that replacement lecturers were appointed by the college in October -two months before the existing staff were sacked or had the opportunity to appeal against their dismissals. The new teachers started work on the same day that three of the existing teachers had disciplinary hearings.

As part of tomorrow's protests, union members will attempt to deliver a giant Valentine's Day card, with more than 12,000 signatures, calling for the lecturers to be reinstated.

The day will begin with a picket on the Whittingham Road entrance to the college at 7.30am. At 8.30am staff will pose with the giant card they will then attempt to deliver to the college's senior management.

The increasingly bitter dispute began with the dismissal of maths lecturer and UCU branch chair Dave Muritu on the day before the college closed for Christmas. In January the three other maths lecturers (also active union members) were sacked and, like Dave Muritu, have since lost their appeals.

UCU regional official, Nick Varney, said: 'These teachers have been treated so appallingly that their colleagues decided a strike was the only appropriate response. The giant Valentine's Day card is ironic as relations between staff and college management are anything but affectionate.

'We are incredulous that, on top of all the other arguments with the college, it appointed new maths teachers in October - at least two months before the existing staff had been sacked or had a chance to appeal. Those new staff started work on the day three of our members were dismissed. The college has some serious questions to answer about its motives and methods.

'At all the appeals the employer did not have enough evidence against the individuals to dismiss them and used students' failure to achieve certain levels of attainment as a basis for sacking them. Not only is this unfair, but it threatens all lecturers' jobs at the college.'

UCU says all four lecturers had good records and it was the college's failings and selective use of information that allowed them to get rid of the staff.  There were no issues related to the lecturers' competence, none had any conduct issues cited in their dismissal and the college admitted there were no individual classroom issues.

Other complaints the union has made about the college's performance include: 

• groups being pushed together, even though they were supposed to be studying different material
• lecturers expected to teach two different classes in two different rooms at the same time
• non-specialist staff regularly covering maths sessions
• refusal to pay for specialist cover (in spite of a huge surplus) for long-term sickness
• failure to provide teaching for students in the run-up to exams.

In the strike ballot, three-quarters (75%) of UCU members who voted backed the call for strike action.