Staff at Barnet and Southgate College are being balloted on whether to take strike action in a long-running dispute over low pay. The ballot opens tomorrow and runs until Friday 31 March.
Staff have already taken three days of strike action in the long-running dispute after college bosses imposed pay awards of just 1% for 2021/22 and 1% for 2020/21 but due to restrictive anti trade-union laws, they have to reballot. The college has now imposed a further pay award of just 2.5% for 2022/23.
National funding for 16-19 year olds has increased by 8.4% this year and college accounts show Barnet and Southgate finished the year with £2.6m more in the bank than it started the year with, leaving it with almost £8m cash overall, as well as more than £43m in reserves. Whereas some teaching staff at Barnet and Southgate College have told UCU they have to use foodbanks just to get by. Inflation is currently 13.4% and UCU is demanding a meaningful pay rise to help staff meet the cost-of-living crisis.
