Teachers at 32 further education colleges have voted to strike following the University and College Union (UCU)’s England-wide ballot over pay and workloads. UCU members in 32 of the 68 colleges passed the required 50 per cent turnout threshold and backed strike action. The union’s further education committee will meet on Friday to sign off on next steps. A further 17 colleges avoided strike action during the ballot window after agreeing new pay deals worth up to 8.7 per cent. UCU said 90 per cent of their voting members supported strike action. The ballot followed the “disappointing” 4 per cent pay rise recommendation from the Association of Colleges earlier this year. Jo Grady, UCU general secretary said: “College staff have turned out in huge numbers to show they are willing to down tools in the fight for decent pay and decent working conditions. “Thanks to the pressure of our strike ballots, we have also won pay deals at a further 17 colleges. Other college bosses now need to look at those institutions, make staff fair offers that help close the pay gap between school and college teachers, and avoid the disruption of strike action.” The union’s ‘new deal for FE’ campaign includes pay parity with school teachers, a national workload agreement and binding national bargaining. College teachers earn, on average, £9,000 less than their counterparts in schools, according to UCU. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “I am disappointed to see college staff voting for strike action, and I hope it doesn’t come to fruition as it’s the students who will suffer. “AoC and college leaders have shown over many years now how committed they are to improving pay and conditions, as far as their funding will allow. We know, as do the unions, that any campaigning and action really needs to be directed nationally to secure commitments and investment from government to address the pay gap with schools and industry. “That’s why we today launched our adult learning pays campaign. A campaign we hope the unions can get behind, because we need to put right the decimation of college funding we saw in the 2010s.” Colleges where UCU members voted for strike action: 1. Abingdon & Witney College 2. Barnet & Southgate College 3. Bournemouth and Poole College of FE 4. Bradford College 5. Brockenhurst College 6. Capital City College 7. Chesterfield College 8. City College Norwich 9. City of Bristol College 10. City of Liverpool College 11. City of Portsmouth College 12. City of Wolverhampton College 13. East Sussex College Group 14. Hugh Baird College 15. Isle of Wight College 16. Kirklees College 17. Lakes College West Cumbria 18. Lancaster and Morecambe College 19. Loughborough College Group 20. Morley College 21. New College Swindon 22. Runshaw College 23. SK College Group 24. South & City College 25. South Bank Colleges 26. Stanmore College 27. The Sheffield College 28. Truro & Penwith College 29. Windsor Forest Colleges Group 30. Wirral Met College 31. WM College 32. York College Colleges securing pay deals during the ballot window: 1. Bath College 2. Bishop Auckland College 3. Bolton College 4. Bury College 5. Cambridge Regional College 6. Chichester College Group 7. Coastland College 8. Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College 9. East Lancashire Learning Group 10. Gateshead College 11. Hopwood Hall College 12. Milton Keynes College 13. Petroc 14. South Gloucestershire & Stroud College 15. Stoke on Trent College 16. UCS College Group 17. Vision West Nottinghamshire College