Chichester College staff join picket lines as strikes begin

The strikes began at the end of last month and continued today (Thursday 6) as well as Friday 7 October (2 days); Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 October (2 days); and Tuesday 18 Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October (3 days).

Speaking last month, Philip Wilson-Marks, branch chair of Chichester College Group University and College Union (UCU) said: “We have repeatedly stated our desire to reach an agreement whereby strike action can be avoided, and this remains our hope. However, our members can’t take yet another real terms pay cut especially when the value of our wages have seen a drop by a third over the last ten years.

"Now the current cost of living crisis and spiralling energy bills have made it even more urgent that we secure a fair deal on pay."

Chichester College UCU described todays walk-out as ‘the biggest strike’ to hit the college in ‘decades’.

Responding the announcement of the strike action last month, Andrew Green, chief executive officer for Chichester College Group, said: "Our staff have - and will always be - our most valuable asset and we are committed to investing in them as much as possible.

"In August, we awarded a 3 per cent pay increase to all staff with an additional lump sum payment to be made in October to certain groups of staff, which equates to a weighted pay increase of 5.3 per cent. At the same time, the senior management team have all voted to decline a pay increase themselves and will use the money saved will create a hardship fund for those in need of additional assistance.

"We know the rate of inflation is increasing rapidly and we are constantly reviewing what we can do to support our staff further, at a time when our own college budgets are being stretched by rising costs.

"We support the Association of Colleges' calls for the Department for Education to carry out further research into pay in further education, with a view to addressing the widening gap between the average pay of teaching staff in schools and colleges. We would welcome a review into better funding for further education, as we have - for too long - been widely underfunded.

"We are currently working with the UCU and we have contingency plans in place to minimise disruption to our students as a results of the strike action."