Staff at three Teesside colleges could go on strike after a teaching union announced it is balloting its members for industrial action over pay.
The NASUWT teaching union has launched the ballot in a fight for a fair pay increase for sixth form college teachers for 2024/25. The colleges affected include Prior Pursglove College, Guisborough, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington and Stockton Sixth form College.
It comes after members of another teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), have already staged seven days of strike action in non-academised sixth form colleges in England since November.
The Government announced in July that teachers in schools across England will receive a fully funded 5.5% pay rise this academic year. The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5% for September 2024 to April 2025 and 5.5% from April, the NASUWT union said.
Meanwhile, teachers in sixth form colleges with academy status have been offered 5.5% from September 2024, seven months earlier than their colleagues in non-academised colleges.
Teachers in sixth form colleges have been offered a “divisive” pay offer and such “unfairness” should not be accepted, the NASUWT said. More than 1,800 teachers in sixth form colleges in England – both academies and non-academies – will be balloted by the NASUWT.
The industrial action ballot will close on February 10. Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “After more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts, sixth form college teachers have started this academic year without a pay award comparable to their colleagues working in schools.
“Despite additional funding for 16-19 academies, employers have spent months advancing spurious arguments to justify not passing on an acceptable pay award to their teachers.
“The employers’ organisation, the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA), cannot justify advancing a divisive proposal of paying teachers in non-academy colleges less than their colleagues teaching in 16-19 academies for doing exactly the same job.”
Last week, the SFCA announced that it has withdrawn its claim for a judicial review against the Government after it said ministers had agreed to provide funding to support a pay rise for college teachers. In September, the SFCA had sought a judicial review of the Government’s decision to give funding to schools for the 5.5% pay rise but not to colleges.
On Friday, the plans were dropped after the Government committed to a £50 million grant for sixth form and further education colleges that can be used to increase teacher pay for 2024/25, the SFCA said. But the dispute between the NEU and the Government over the pay of sixth form college teachers is ongoing and now members of the NASUWT could also decide to take industrial action this academic year.
Mr Roach added: “We will not accept such unfairness and inequity and nor will we accept a situation in which any teachers are denied the pay award they are entitled to. Industrial action can be avoided in any college that commits to implementing a 5.5% award backdated to September 2024.
“We also want to see a national commitment from employers that all sixth form teachers will receive the same 5.5% pay award, regardless of where they work. The employers have no excuse and no justification for putting their interests ahead of recognising and rewarding hard-working and dedicated sixth form college teachers.”
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