Members of UCU at Chesterfield College are planning strike action on Tuesday 29th May over the College’s proposals to cut the pay of staff at the college.
UCU members voted by 88% in a recent ballot to take action after proposals by the college to impose pay cuts and to restrict access to lecturers to their current contracted salary levels.
The College’s plan to impose a 1% pay cut on all staff earning above £18,000 (or pro-rata) this will affect the vast majority of teaching staff at the college.
The college also intend to impose a further two year pay freeze on all staff. Lecturers at the college have already had three years of under – inflation pay increases.
The college also plan to impose Performance Related Pay. In order to reach the salary earned by lecturers elsewhere, Chesterfield College staff will need to take on a “junior management role” and obtain a grade 1 or 2 in a lesson observation.
In addition the college intend to cut the pay of Hourly Paid Lecturers by over 15%. In the case of an hourly paid lecturer who taught 550 hours, this could mean a pay cut of over £1600.
The college have issued a Section 188 notice giving all staff 90 days notice of their intention to end current contracts of employment and impose the new pay and conditions if no agreement is reached.
The attack on pay and conditions at Chesterfield College is part of a wider austerity driven “race to the bottom” being pushed by hard-line employers and supported by the Tory government. This includes pay cuts, attacks on pensions, and recent plans to introduce “no fault dismissals” – a license to sack workers at will.
It is vital that our unions organise to resist these attacks and give support and solidarity to UCU members at Chesterfield College
Please show your support by
Sending messages of support to eadenj@chesterfield.ac.uk
Visiting our picket lines at Chesterfield College on May 29th.