Further education lecturers vote to take strike action

Further education (FE) lecturers in one of Northern Ireland's main teaching unions have voted for strike action.

The NASUWT said the support for industrial action is in response to ongoing disputes over pay, workload and conditions.

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT National Official for Northern Ireland, said it is a "disgrace" that FE lecturers get paid less than school teachers for doing the "same job".

In a statement, a Department for the Economy spokesperson said: "The Department is committed to improving pay and conditions for college workers. Last year college lecturers received an 11.2% uplift in pay."

The department added: "The Minister has engaged with Trade Unions and Further Education College employers and has made clear that progress is urgently needed on both a pay offer for this year, and the issue of staff workload."

The results of the ballot showed that 74.3% of members voted in favour of strike action whilst 98.6 % supported action short of strike.

Teachers in Northern Ireland recently accepted a revised pay offer of 5.5% for 2024/25.

Pay for FE lecturers is negotiated separately from that of teachers, but workload has also been cited as a concern.

Speaking to BBC's Evening Extra programme Mr McCamphill said the union will be issuing instructions to employers in the coming days.

"They have received no offer, they've had a string of broken promises from last year and they are the only workers in the public sector now who haven't been offered a pay increase," he said.

"We're calling on the Minister Caoimhe Archibald to intervene, this is outside the Department of Education, it lies with the Department for the Economy. And she needs to intervene and make sure the colleges in Northern Ireland actually pay their lecturers what they deserve.

"We're calling on the employers to actually do what has to be done to ensure that strike or action short of strike doesn't happen. The ball is in their court."

Mr McCamphill said that further education lecturers do the "same job" as teachers in schools and are paid "at least £5,000 a year less".

He added that the government needs to realise that FE lecturers are important for training and apprenticeships.

"We just can't afford to not deal with this," he said.

"People are not going to go into FE lecturing if they realise the pay disparity is so much and we are calling for equality for those lecturers."

Around half of University and College Union (UCU) members in FE colleges voted in a recent ballot over strike action.

It found that 90% of members voted in favour of strike action and over 98% voted for action short of strike.

The NASUWT and UCU between them represent the vast majority of FE lecturers.

There are six FE colleges in Northern Ireland with more than 63,000 students.

They teach a large range of vocational and academic subjects to a wide variety of students, and are a major part of the education system.