TEACHERS at New College Swindon will be going on strike for the second time in six months in a row over pay.

Members of the University and College Union, UCU, are planning the walkout on January 29 and 30 as part of a national day of action by 16 colleges across England.

More than 78 per cent of UCU members at the college voted in favour of striking again over the ongoing pay dispute, following on from a two-day walkout in November.

The union says teachers have seen a 25 per cent decline in the pay over the last ten years and has rejected offers by the college of a two per cent rise this year.

UCU regional officer Nick Varney told the Adver: “The dispute is about the lack of funding in further education and the fact that our members have had real-terms pay cuts of £7,000 over the last seven years. We believe New College Swindon has some money around to afford to pay us more

“We’re open to discuss things but we would hope the management at the college can come back to us with a better offer.

“If they do we will listen and put it to our members. At the moment we’re being asked to take another real-terms pay cut. They offered us one per cent and then two per cent, but in real terms that’s another pay cut.

“Teachers have already been offered 3.5 per cent in schools and our members are certainly worth as much as that. The government seems to totally ignore further education, there was no mention of it in the budget. But yet they expect us to deliver everything for them. That’s where we are at the moment.

“We are sometimes dealing with students that have had a difficult time at school. They can be very challenging groups. But apparently we can still take year after year pay cuts. That’s why we’re doing it. We don’t like striking. We tried every other methodology, we demonstrated, we campaigned, and lobbied. It’s got us nowhere.”

Teachers in further education college were not included within The School Teachers' Review Body (STRB), which published its report in July, recommending that school leaders, as well as teachers, received a 3.5 per cent rise last year.

Although the UCU argues that FE teaches are paid 13 per cent less than school teachers.

It added that further strikes were planned if the colleges refused to make a decent offer and said colleges should follow the lead of the Capital City College Group which recently agreed a five per cent pay deal for its 1,700 staff.

New College Swindon was approached for a comment by the Adver but declined.