National Education Union members who teach in non-academised sixth form colleges will be taking further strike action on 29 January, with another two days set for 6 February and 7 February.
A total of 32 colleges will be taking action. In total, this will mean ten days of strike action so far.
In London there will be a rally at Westminster:
Location: Old Palace Yard
Date: Wednesday 29 January 2025
Time: 13.00-14.30
Speakers: NEU Senior Vice-President Ed Harlow, MPs including Ian Byrne MP as well as speakers from the BMA and UCU
Despite the recent announcement of £50 million of additional funding across the FE sector, including sixth form colleges, in addition to an upcoming announcement on a further £250 million of funding, no new pay offer was put forward to unions by the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA) in recent negotiations. The SFCA instead simply reiterated the same offer that they had originally presented to the union side on 19 December, in which college teachers in non-academised colleges would be paid 2% less than their colleagues in academised colleges for a seven-month period. Unions have been clear throughout that the dispute cannot be resolved through a two-tier pay system that leaves the door open to further fragmentation of existing collective bargaining arrangements.
Commenting ahead of the three strike days, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"This is an obvious injustice, and one that the Government could fix at very little cost. It is a mess of their own making.
"Our members will not accept a two-tier pay system that could be easily repeated in future years. For the Government to unnecessarily deprive non-academised sixth form colleges of the funding for a fair pay award sends a terrible message. Ministers have been unable to provide a sensible argument for why they have failed these colleges. All teachers in sixth form colleges should be paid equally for doing the same work.
"Our members do not want to strike but they know injustice when they see it. It is up to the Government to resolve this dispute."