Staff at Croydon College have called off a strike after accepting a new pay deal worth up to 8 per cent.
The University and College Union said the offer also includes a commitment from management to look at workloads and to create joint working groups that will aim to improve career progression for learning support workers and technicians.
Strike action was suspended at Croydon College after the offer was made but went ahead this week at 17 other colleges, with a further 12 set to join the strike next week.
Staff at eight further colleges also have mandates to strike but are not yet going forward with action.
The UCU rejected a 2.5 per cent offer from the Association of Colleges in June, describing it as “totally unacceptable”. That had been increased from first 1 per cent and then 2.25 per cent.
Staff across the country are calling for a 10 per cent rise with a minimum uplift of £2,000 to help them cope with the cost-of-living crisis.
Croydon College’s pay award means those earning under £25,000 will see their pay rise by 8 per cent, and those earning between £25,000 and £40,000, including lecturers, will see their pay rise by 5 per cent.
UCU regional official Adam Lincoln said: “This deal is the result of determined organising from our members at Croydon College. We are always willing to negotiate fairly with management and we thank the college leadership team for their serious engagement with UCU in negotiating this agreement.
“We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and our members in further education are taking action like never before with around 4,000 staff hitting colleges across England with strikes. There are up to seven days of strikes still set to take place over the next three weeks. Employers urgently need to make improved offers that address the cost-of-living crisis. If they fail to do so, they will face further disruption.”
Croydon College was approached for comment.
If you live in London and get under £25k a year, then you are probably really struggling, unless there is another significant earner. 8% will not make much of a dent in that and it’s behind inflation.
(on £20K that’s a £1600 rise, on £25k it’s £2000)
What the article doesn’t tell us is what % those earning over £40k got. If you are on £100k then you only need a 1.6% increase to get the same actual pay rise as someone on £20k…
Flat amounts (not %’s) across the board are a better way to stop the ever widening wealth gap. Any Board applying %’s is not tackling the fundamental issue.
‘Better’ and ‘less worse’ do not mean the same thing and a rise below inflation is an effective pay cut.
Staff earning more than £40K will get a 2% increase. UCU reps at the college examined the accounts given to them by management and concluded that this was the best realistic offer unless more money was made available from central govenment.