Oli Osborne Harris
The University and College Union (UCU) has announced its intention to strike in response to recommended pay rises below inflation for college teachers.
The decision means that if the demand of a pay rise above Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation is not met, staff at thirty-two colleges across the UK could engage in strike action as early as November.
30% of staff work a second job
In their announcement, the UCU cites statistics such as that 96% of staff are struggling financially and 30% of staff work a second job, as factors leading to this decision.
Local ballots were conducted to determine levels of support, and thirty-two colleges in the union voted in support of strike action, while fourty-three did not have a turnout above the 50% required.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said in a statement, “Where employers can pay more, they should, the money is there.”
A pay recommendation of 6.5%
A similar sentiment was expressed by a student at the University of Nottingham who said, “Unions and strikes are extremely important, obviously they can have negative impacts on the public, but that’s not their main objective.”
The ballot has come after the Association of Colleges (AoC) has made a pay recommendation of 6.5%, just below the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate for August, and more than 3% lower than the RPI inflation rate over the same period.
Chief executive of the AoC, David Hughes, talking on the two-hundred-million-pound government funding allocated for staff recruitment and retention said, “not every college will be able to offer 6.5% because of the way the funding was distributed”, instead suggesting unions accept the pay offer, and campaign for further investment ahead of the general election.
“They shouldn’t have to fight this hard for what should already be implemented” [Careena, a student from the University of Nottingham]
Reacting to the decision, Careena, a first-year Media and Communications student at the University of Nottingham, said “teachers deserve fair pay, they shouldn’t have to fight this hard for what should already be implemented, but ameliorating students’ education should be the priority”.
Other major education unions such as the National Education Union (NEU) voted earlier this year to accept the AoC’s recommended pay rise, and have since seen division as opposition towards the pay offer grows.
Oli Osborne Harris
Featured image courtesy of Kenny Eliason via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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