‘Enough is enough’: Lewisham and Southwark college staff strike over pay
Staff from Lewisham and Southwark colleges walked out today and formed picket lines outside the building to demonstrate their anger at poor pay in the sector.
The strikes form part of a national movement co-ordinated by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) called Respect FE.
College workers are demanding their employers make a 10 per cent pay offer that reflects the soaring costs they currently face and is in line with inflation.
Since 2009 pay in further education has fallen behind inflation by 35 per cent and the pay gap between school and college teachers stands at around £9,000.
Peter Bicknell, a librarian at Lewisham College, said he was going on strike because wages had been frozen for too long and his finances were worsening.
“Going into my overdraft is frequent for me now,” he said. “The energy price increases and cost of food has made it so difficult.
“Enough is enough. We’ve seen [pay] freeze after freeze after freeze. It’s been building for months, some of my colleagues are in a much worse position than me. Hopefully this will have an impact.
UCU has said unqualified college teachers earn as little as £21,000 whilst qualified teachers earn as little as £26,000.
In June, employer representative the Association of Colleges made a pay recommendation of 2.5 per cent, while RPI inflation is now at 12.3 per cent.
Staff and Lewisham and Southwark colleges are employed by education organisation NCG.
This summer UCU produced a report that shows the vast majority of college staff are financially insecure, impacting the mental health of more than eight in 10 with many being forced to skip meals and restrict hot water use to save money.
Seven in 10 said they will leave the sector unless pay and working conditions improve.
The Department for Education has announced £1.6bn in extra funding for further education and UCU estimates that colleges already have an additional £400m that is available to spend on staff compared with 2019-20.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Strike action on this scale in further education is unprecedented. But our members have been left with no other option, they are being pushed into poverty by college bosses who refuse to raise pay to help them meet the cost-of-living crisis.
“College staff deliver excellent education but over the last twelve years their pay has fallen behind inflation by 35 per cent and now thousands are skipping meals, restricting energy use and considering leaving the sector altogether.
“This strike action will continue for 10 days unless college bosses wake up to this crisis, stop dining off the goodwill of their workforce and make a serious pay offer.”
A spokeswoman for NCG said: “We understand the financial pressures that our colleagues are facing at the moment and that is why we have offered both a consolidated and non-consolidated award to provide them with immediate support.
“Our offer is a 3.5 per cent increase on last year’s wages, made up of a 2.5 per cent increase this year and a 1% increase already built in from last year’s pay award. In addition, we have offered a £500 pro-rata one off payment to all colleagues in October’s pay. This offer is aligned to what we know we are able to afford, and we are continuing to review the situation in line with the mini-budget.
“After years of continued cuts to the FE sector, we continue to lobby for additional funding that will help us to reward our colleagues fairly. It is our hope that the unions recognise the position we are in and utilise their time in helping us to lobby for this.”
Pictured top: College staff from Lewisham college form a picket line outside the building (Picture: UCU)