Further education lecturers in NI on strike from Monday

Lecturers have previously held protests in their campaign for better pay

Lecturers in further education (FE) colleges are the "the poor relations of the education system," according to their union.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) in FE are to take strike action for a week from Monday.

As the UCU represents the majority of more than 1,700 FE lecturers, the walkout is expected to cause widespread disruption to college courses.

The heads of the FE colleges said the strike will negatively impact learners.

They also said the colleges were facing "significant budgetary pressures".

The UCU and the NASUWT - which also represents some lecturers - recently called pay rises of 1% for 2021-22 and 1% for 2022-23 "dismal".

Lecturers did get a recent £3,000 one-off pro-rata payment to help with rises in the cost of living.

The starting salary for a full-time FE lecturer in Northern Ireland is about £25,000 a year, although some staff are paid on an hourly basis or work part-time.

But the Northern Ireland UCU official Katharine Clarke said the pay of FE staff in Northern Ireland was lower than that in many other parts of the UK.

"Our members are taking this action because they have experienced over a decade of pay freeze followed by pay restraint that has seen lecturer pay awards capped at between 1% and 2%," she said.

Katharine Clarke says lecturers are paid much less than their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales

"That is just not acceptable.

"They have become the poor relations of the education system."

"Their wages are far behind schoolteachers, university lecturers and actually lecturers in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England."

According to figures published by Colleges Scotland in 2022, new FE lecturers in Northern Ireland earned around £3,000 less than those in Wales and £11,000 less those in Scotland.

'Our last resort'

But more experienced full-time lecturers earned significantly less than their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales.

Dr Paul Hamilton teaches graphic design in Southern Regional College (SRC).

He said that going on strike was not a decision he took lightly and was a last resort.

"We're withdrawing our labour and this is the last thing on this earth we wanted to do," he told BBC News NI.

"We've tried our best to work through action short of a strike, we've done email campaigns to our MLAs and MPs and it's made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

"We really believe that we deserve more - not just more money but more respect in what we do and how we do it.

"For one example, someone starting lecturing in FE in Northern Ireland starts at somewhere around £24,000 a year.

"Recently in Scotland they've upped that to £39,000 a year so there's a big disparity there right across the board."

Dr Paul Hamilton says those going on strike believe they deserve more respect

UCU members in Northern Ireland's six FE colleges will strike for a week from Monday and then one day in every six until December.

In a statement the College Employers' Forum (CEF), which represents college management, said the action would "have a negative impact on our learners who have only commenced the 2023-24 academic year".

"CEF has worked hard to make the case for an uplift in staff pay but unfortunately this comes at a time when there is huge financial pressure right across the public sector and our sector has not escaped these pressures," it said.

"This year the six colleges took a reduction of almost £9m to our budgets for front-line further education and the colleges will face significant budgetary pressures into next year.

"We remain committed to working with trade unions to build a case for a pay award in 2023-24 that reflects the dedication and professionalism of our lecturers.

"We would urge the trade unions to reconsider this strike action. In the meantime, we will do our best to ensure that the needs of our learners are met during this strike period."

'Seek a resolution'

The Department for the Economy is the department with responsibility for FE in Northern Ireland.

It said: "The FE sector employers provided a pay remit business case to the Department for the Economy for the periods 2021-22 and 2022-23 which included increments, revalorisation and a one-off non-consolidated payment for FE lecturers.

"This pay award was issued by FE colleges in August.

"The department would encourage the FE colleges as employers to continue their engagement with unions to seek a resolution on ongoing pay issues."