Strike threat for Sandwell College
FURTHER strikes are set to hit a Midland college in a long running dispute over pay.
Sandwell College suffered disruption on February 5 when members of the University and College Union staged a 24-hour stoppage.
The lecturer’s union, which is protesting over a national pay deal that has not been implemented at the college, is now threatening further strike on two separate days in March.
A union spokesman said: “We are not in the business of just pulling our members out on strike, but we have to feel absolutely sure that the timetable for implementation will actually be kept to this time.”
He said they were still hopeful that arbitration service ACAS could intervene in the dispute, a move which the union backed.
The national pay deal, which dates back to 2004, would give a £4,511 a year rise to a mid-ranking further education lecturer.
Scott Upton, vice principal at Sandwell College, said they had made a commitment to moving their lecturers onto a national pay scale, but were not in a position to implement it now.
