Members attending UCU's Congress have voted to ballot further education colleges across England for strike action.
The ballot will be launched in September and if successful will lead to strikes from October, unless employers meet UCU's demands over pay, workloads and the Living Wage.
The decision follows an e-ballot of around 18,000 UCU members at 190 college branches in which 87% of members who voted said yes to strike action. Turnout was over 50%.
UCU is demanding a pay offer in excess of RPI inflation, a national workload agreement and binding national pay negotiations. Earlier this month employer body the Association of Colleges refused to make a national pay offer.
