Staff at Lambeth College will go on strike tomorrow (Tuesday) over proposed changes to pay and conditions, the University and College Union (UCU) has announced.

It comes after 95 per cent of staff who voted in a ballot backed industrial action following a dispute over plans to change contracts, and in particular, clauses about working hours, sick pay and holidays. The UCU has claimed the changes could leave some Lambeth staff working longer hours than all but three of London’s 38 FE colleges.

UCU regional official Una O’Brien said: “There is deep anger over these proposed changes which will mean workloads will increase but sick pay and holidays will be cut. Different staff will have different contracts, hours and benefits and that will do little to enhance morale.

“The management of the college needs to work with us to ensure the college is fit for purpose. Downgrading staff terms and conditions is not the way to do that.”

Principal Mark Silverman said: “The reforms we are proposing to employment contracts for new staff are vital if we are to survive the many challenges facing the sector – challenges that left unchecked at other colleges have resulted in dwindling learner numbers and eventual college closures.

“We are disappointed with the result of the recent ballot and will continue our dialogue with the unions and our staff to try to avoid a strike which risks damaging the education of our students and job security of all those employed at the college.

“If a strike is unavoidable, we will make the necessary arrangements to minimise disruption to the education of our students during this period.

“Existing staff should understand that the proposals will only affect new staff and there are no plans to change current contracts for existing staff. The changes are part of the college’s strategic plan, which has been underway for two years.

“We will continue to strive towards long-term success and sustainability of the college which will help protect all of our jobs and ensure the college has a secure future.”

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12 Comments

  1. Mark
    Press ahead and bring the college into the modern age. Can you honestly believe the quote from the union. Wake up and smell the coffee- the world has moved on from silverbook and the biggest cost is staff !

    Don’t be put off mr silverman

    • toche

      Dear Peter
      I do not know what you call modern age or what world you live in. Trying to change teacher’s contracts with view of increasing workload, decreasing holiday and freeze pay (teacher’s at Lambeth College haven’t had a salary increase for the past 4 years), isn’t going into modern age, whichever way you look at it. It looks more like going back in the past where people had no rights and the lords ruled.
      On your comment about cost of teachers: managers cost a lot of money to colleges and other institutions. It is hard to believe that a college in a supposedly financially critical situation like Lambeth College allows the principal to walk away every month with £130.000 from our meagre funding. Three or four full time teachers could be employed with this salary.
      Peter, by your comment, it is clear how little you know about the hard work teachers put in every month. It looks like you would like us to go back to the Middle Ages. I like to believe times have indeed changed and teachers simply want fair pay and conditions for the valuable work they do.

    • Angus J Pickthall

      Lambeth College is in the modern age working in the the local community to improve the lives (both socially and economically) of unemployed youth, people with mental health issues, disability issues and people who come from diverse and rich backgrounds; just like you find when you drink fine coffee!! Lambeth College also works in a modern borough that has some 132 languages spoken at any one time according to Lambeth Council (http://resourcingmicrosites.com/lambeth/about.php) these rich, diverse, social & economical (disadvantaged) people needs require committed & educated staff to support, teach & enrich their lives so that they can make a positive contribution to society and their local community; unless you want your local community only for the rich (£) run by robots or cheap labour; maybe you do!?

    • Peter Marples,
      As teachers, our objective and duty is to ensure the highest standard and quality of teaching and learning takes place in a conducive learning environment. Diminishing teachers’ ability to be able to provide nothing but the BEST for their students – high achievement rates and student success stories, is absolutely disgusting and should NOT be tolerated! Peter Marples, you obviously have NO experience in FE, as your comment proves. Your opinion counts for nothing as your comments only serve to contribute to the evident deals and profiteering (sugar coated as “moving into the modern age”) currently prevalent at top management level. Meanwhile, our students – the people who matter- suffer from the fallout of these policies. If the College is to move into the “modern age” as you say, then any change must reflect EDUCATIONAL needs and not money-grabbing, profiteering greed. WE ARE AN ACADEMIC ESTABLISHMENT, NOT A CAR REPAIR WORKSHOP!! You obviously need a BRAIN TRANSPLANT if you seriously even dare to think, let alone imply, that any staff member – unionised or not – is against the best interests of Lambeth College and more importantly its students.

    • Margret

      Mr Marples,

      From your response to Mr Silverman using the familiar “Mark” as your opening salutation, it strikes me that you are on friendly terms with the college principal?

      Perhaps you could come to Lambeth College and spend a few weeks in an ESOL or literacy class?

      The correct use of capitals, appropriate punctuation, the conventions of text types as well as the differences between fact and opinion are amongst what we attempt to help our many diverse students learn alongside improved English vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
      You may find the experience helpful and enlightening.

      Sincerely,

      Margret

  2. R Anthony

    With due respect, comments made by Mr Marples reflect the uninformed thinking of a range of intellectual midgets who simply regurgitate political rhetoric, and fail to begin to address the real problems facing FE. I have been a lecturer for in excess of 30 years, and I have watched as successive education ministers have reduced the funding allocated to the FE sector. They have done this by using Quangos such as the FEFC. In so doing governments can divest themselves of blame when things go wrong, and blame the Quango. I have personally known things to get so bad that I have had to teach photography to a class of students where pupils were only allocated one roll of film each per term. I have had to teach in darkrooms where equipment was condemned as unsafe and I have had to cancel classes due to a lack of resources. Additionally, I have been asked to pass students who should have failed, this in order to maximise success rates and secure funding (it’s called pass the class). Worst of all I have watched as OFSTED has changed its rules on what was expected in the classroom and in so doing unfairly penalised good lecturers simply to help colleges get rid of staff when funding is tight. I have been disgusted as OFSTED downgrades good lecturers during observations simply because students are absent from a lesson they are holding. How is the lecturer to know why or where any individual absent student is? Its staff are the only thing holding the FE sector together, and it is regrettable that they are not being treated with the respect they deserve. I did not see any negative comments from Mr Marples regarding the 150,000 plus salary given to principals. This could employ 6 new lecturers, servicing several new courses.There is a great deal more I could say, and have evidence for. I have kept old emails for some years and many support the comments I have made above.

  3. A Watson

    Before I even waste my time trying to explain why I strongly disagree with Peter Marples I would like to know his ‘Job’ and on what authority he thinks unnessasary industrial action is a good thing. The UCU didn’t pick a fight with management we are simply trying to defend ourselves form this savage and ill thought out attack.

  4. Julia

    Mr Marples, your comments clearly indicate that you have no history of teaching and supporting learners. You clearly have no awareness of the hours of dedication teachers spend on interviewing, enrolment, creating schemes of work, lesson planning, resource preparation, delivery, marking, pastoral care, standardisation meetings and overwhelming number of administrative tasks (and that’s just the basics). You cannot compare the demands of such a job which that of nine to five privatised employment in which the majority of workers can leave at 5pm knowing that their day’s work is done. For that is surely what you are doing. I have spent twelve years in each of these sectors and I can say without doubt that the two are not comparable. Teachers do not deserve to have their terms and conditions diminished as you suggest. Privatising education is clearly your raison d’etre. This won’t work – well not for the wellbeing of front line staff or the quality of provision for students – but then what would you care? Once you decide to privatise and make profit out of education then your moral footing has already been lost. Whatever coffee you drink in the morning, it is not Fair Trade.

  5. Julia

    And yes, unfortunately there is a grammatical error – now corrected. “You cannot compare the demands of such a job with that of nine to five privatised employment in which the majority of workers can leave at 5pm knowing that their day’s work is done.”

  6. I would like to hear from Peter Marples again as he needs to defend his views. I would like to know why ‘the modern world’ means that the bosses need to earn over £100,000/year in order to turn up for work.

    • This is indeed an awful situation. One of the main tragedies is the breakdown of dialogue between managers and teachers in FE. Managers have become deluded with the mantra of ‘excellence’ and have lost touch with teaching and learning and the communities FE serves. Rather than destroying the workforce,many of whom will leave soon after starting one of these new contracts, managers should sit down with the unions and the workforce and seek out ways in which to grow provision and ensure that colleges can provide valuable learning opportunities despite these cuts.