19/09/2006

College lecturers strike for pay equality

College lecturers at the sixteen Further Education Centres throughout Northern Ireland are staging a one-day strike as part of a protest in a bid to get equal pay with school teachers.

Lecturers are currently paid around £2,500 less than teachers, and they hope that the action will help to get financial parity with teachers, which they were promised in 2001.

The lecturers are taking action to show their opposition to the government's decision to merge the institutions to form six `super-colleges` by 2007.

The Association of NI Colleges today said that it was disappointed at the action being taken just as the new academic year begins and added that it is pressing the government to scrap the pay cap which has stopped colleges from giving large pay rises.

Todays action is the third taken recent weeks, with further disruption planned for October and November.

Jim McKeown, Regional officer of the University and College Union, which currently represents around 4,300 lecturers in Northern Ireland, today said that the dispute has been running for a long time yet said that no one in authority seems to have any interest in finding a resolution.

He said: "The employers claim they support the lecturers but the Department of Education and Learning won't allow them to pay.

"Those at the top are running round in circles and nobody will take a decision.

"The dispute has run into another year and college bosses are rubbing salt in the wound by refusing to make any pay offer for this year.”

Mr McKeown added that lecturers do the same job as teachers and therefore deserve the same pay.

(EF/KMcA)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

31 May 2006
College lecturers stage second strike
Almost 2,000 lecturers in Northern Ireland's 16 further education colleges are taking part in another day of strike action over a pay dispute. This is the second time within a week that the the teachers have taken part in industrial action.
10 September 2002
MLA's call for new firefighters pay scheme
Two UUP MLA's have called on the Northern Ireland Executive to implement a new pay scheme for Ulster's firefighters. North Antrim UUP MLA the Rev Robert Coulter called for the introduction of a new pay formula in a motion to the Assembly on Monday. Mr Coulter said he hoped it would help achieve a real remedy to the question of firefighter’s pay.
04 April 2023
NI Teachers Announce Strike Action For 26 April
Teachers from five teaching unions across NI have announced that they will take strike action on Wednesday 26 April, over the failure to offer teachers and Further Education lecturers a fair and decent pay award.
28 March 2007
Local lecturers strike over pay
Lecturers across Northern Ireland are taking strike action as part of a long-running dispute over pay. It is the seventh strike by the 16 Further Education colleges who are seeking pay parity between lecturers and school teachers.
25 May 2006
Further Education Colleges hit by strike action
Further education colleges across Northern Ireland have today been hit by strikes as lecturers take industrial action over a pay dispute. The college professors are striking in a bid to have their wages raised to the same level as schoolteachers, arguing that teachers are paid around £2,500 more per year.