Staff to be balloted for strike action at Chesterfield College
24 April 2012
UCU today said that it will ballot members at Chesterfield College for strike action in a row over jobs and pay.
The college has announced plans to make 39 teaching staff redundant by the end of the present term.
The institution also intends to ignore nationally agreed pay scales and cap lecturers' annual salaries £5,000 lower than the national average*.
In addition, the college is threatening to reduce salaries for hourly-paid staff by 20% and to move learning support tutors on to inferior contracts.
The union accused the college of trying to deliver 'teaching on the cheap' and said that its plans for jobs and pay had left staff demoralised.
UCU regional official, Anne O'Sullivan, said: 'These plans are little more than an attempt to deliver teaching on the cheap and have succeeded only in demoralising staff at the college. Instead of axing jobs and breaching nationally agreed pay scales the college should be looking to work with us.
'Chesterfield College's plans are bad for staff and students and will deter the best and brightest from wanting to come and work here. The college has left us with little choice but to ballot members.'
notes
* According to the Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE) from the Office for National Statistics the full-time mean average annual pay (2011) for a further education teaching professional was £35,216. Chesterfield College intends to cap annual salaries at £30,462.
The institution also intends to ignore nationally agreed pay scales and cap lecturers' annual salaries £5,000 lower than the national average*.
In addition, the college is threatening to reduce salaries for hourly-paid staff by 20% and to move learning support tutors on to inferior contracts.
The union accused the college of trying to deliver 'teaching on the cheap' and said that its plans for jobs and pay had left staff demoralised.
UCU regional official, Anne O'Sullivan, said: 'These plans are little more than an attempt to deliver teaching on the cheap and have succeeded only in demoralising staff at the college. Instead of axing jobs and breaching nationally agreed pay scales the college should be looking to work with us.
'Chesterfield College's plans are bad for staff and students and will deter the best and brightest from wanting to come and work here. The college has left us with little choice but to ballot members.'
notes
* According to the Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings (ASHE) from the Office for National Statistics the full-time mean average annual pay (2011) for a further education teaching professional was £35,216. Chesterfield College intends to cap annual salaries at £30,462.
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