Strikes to begin across all six Northern Ireland colleges over pay row

UTV Credit: One of the six colleges taking part in the strike action.

Further Education colleges in Northern Ireland will stage strike action over staffing concerns and pay.

All six colleges are set to take part in strike action in an online rally over zoom on Wednesday morning.

The UCU, the union which represents further education colleges are calling on Stormont to address the issues urgently.

The dispute centres on Northern Ireland Minister for the Department for the Economy Diane Dodds and her department’s failure to increase college funding so that employers can pay staff fairly.  

College employers advised UCU the most they could offer from within existing college budgets for a pay award was 7% over a four year period. 

Employers have acknowledged the offer is insufficient, both in terms of properly rewarding staff, and addressing ongoing problems of recruitment and retention.  

The union has also rubbished claims by the DfE that decisions of the department have no bearing on the negotiations. 

This industrial action will see UCU members only working to contracted hours, refusing to work overtime, and boycotting any unagreed additional duties.    

Ahead of the industrial action, the Economy Minister Diane Dodds has urged the unions representing lecturers and Further Education employers to work together to resolve the ongoing dispute.

She said: “Further Education colleges are employers in their own right and are responsible for determining the terms and conditions of lecturing staff, including the negotiation and agreement of any changes to those terms and conditions, including pay, with trade unions. 

"I have no legal authority to intervene in these matters and therefore have no direct role in this dispute.

“It is only when agreement has been reached between the employers and the unions through that process that a business case is submitted to my Department for appraisal. 

"Should the business case be considered to be sufficiently robust, my Department may approve it and give consideration to bringing forward proposals to meet any additional resource requirements."

Mrs Dodds continued: “It is a shared responsibility of all who work in further education to work collaboratively to ensure that FE learners, who have already impacted by the pandemic, are not disadvantaged by the dispute.”