New strike date at five North East colleges

UCU members at Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training Group, Stockton Riverside College, The Skills Academy, and Redcar and Cleveland College will down tools on Thursday 10 October as part of a long running dispute over pay. 

The strike is the latest escalation, following 13 previous days of action, after staff rejected employer Education Training Collective's (ETC) pay offer. The latest offer amounts to an increase of just 3% for 2022/23, with an additional 1% from May 2023. Staff have already overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in the group principal Grant Glendinning. 

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Despite already taking 13 days of strike action, ETC is still trying to force our members to accept poverty pay. We want to resolve this dispute and our members have the full weight of the national union behind them. UCU welcomes further talks with ETC planned for next week, and hopes that the issues can be resolved, without the need for further strike action on 10 October.'