The ballot of UCU members employed by Sunderland College closed at noon on 5th March. The ballot was regarding a dispute arising out of a failure to agree a pay award at Sunderland College with UCU for 2018/2019.
Pay for staff in further education (FE) has been slashed by 25% against inflation over the last decade. No other workers in education or the public sector have suffered worse cuts to their pay. School teachers now earn on average £7,000 more per year than college lecturers.
UCU is fighting hard for the future of our colleges. These massive cuts in real pay are making it harder and harder for colleges to attract and keep the qualified and experienced staff that students deserve. Even the Association of Colleges, which represents colleges, now accepts that pay in colleges is too low and unfair.
Ballot result:
- the number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot: 103
- votes cast: 45
- the number of individuals answering “yes” to the question are you prepared to take part in industrial action consisting of a strike?: 35
- the number of individuals answering “no” to the question are you prepared to take part in industrial action consisting of a strike?: 10
- the number of spoiled or otherwise invalid voting papers returned: 0
- the number of votes cast in the ballot was therefore less than 50% of the number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot
