Quit stalling and get moving on lecturers' pay parity with schools, union urges colleges

Thanks to determined action by UCU members the majority of colleges have brought in shorter pay scales to move lecturers' pay closer to school teachers', the union announced recently.

UCU today released a list of English colleges which haven't implemented a national agreement on this and urged those colleges stuck at red traffic lights to quit stalling and get on the move.

Barry Lovejoy, head of further education at UCU, thinks there are no excuses for colleges to refuse negotiations. He said: 'Thanks to the determination of UCU members we've made real progress and a majority of colleges have reached agreements with UCU to bring in a shorter pay scale - the linchpin of introducing pay parity between lecturers and school teachers. If a majority of colleges can do it, so can the rest.

'More than 60% of UCU members work in colleges which have agreed to implement this deal and UCU seeks equal pay for all our members.

'Both national college employers and UCU agree: college managements should be entering "meaningful and realistic discussions, where those have not already taken place, to reach agreement on a timetable for modernising pay by the end of March 2007".

'It is time for these 106 colleges to quit stalling and get moving.'