College Principals Pocket Huge Pay Rises
College principals got pay rises that were four times higher than what was recommended by the Association of Colleges, the employer body for further education(FE).
While this is happening, qualified lecturers live on £26,000, below the average salary in Britain of £31,876.
Twenty six of these principals got at pay rises of above 10% in 2021-2022. Last year the principal of Weston College, Paul Phillips got £362,000 , 9.6 times above the average pay of his full time workforce. In fact, pay for college staff has fallen 35% behind inflation over the past 12 years.
Staff at Weston College planned to go on strike in late September until a last-minute offer on pay was started by management.
Phillips is the highest paid of these principals. Andy Barry, principal of Bridgwater and Taunton College, got £180,000 up from 162,000 in 2021. Gerry McDonald, principal of New City College, got a whacking £292,000 up from £241,000 in 2021.
Meanwhile in Brighton, Edinburgh and Glasgow
Workers at the FE college in Brighton came out on strike on Monday September 4th with the announcement of 22 compulsory redundancies, which followed 83 ‘voluntary’ redundancies, a net job loss of 105.The strikers on the picket line were joined by students, and a blocking of traffic took place.
At Edinburgh College workers came out on strike after a union activist was sacked. They are planning to up their three days a week strike to five days a week. As at Brighton, pickers stopped traffic. Management have been trying to get rid of the equivalent of 39 full time posts, and over 180 workers are pressured over ‘voluntary’ severance.
At Glasgow City College, workers are fighting against 100 job cuts. They went out on strike from 5th September- 8th September, with further strike action on 11th -14th September and then 19th-21st , 26th and 29th of September.
Small surprise then , that staff at 89 colleges are preparing to vote in a strike ballot that ends on 10th October, over a 15.4 percent pay rise for workers, and other issues like action on excessive workloads. We urge those taking part in the ballot to vote Yes!