LECTURERS at a Hampshire college held strike action over pay yesterday during an Ofsted inspection.
A dozen activists of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) manned picket lines throughout the morning at the St Mary Street and Chapel Road college entrances of Southampton City College.
Union members said the walk-out caused widespread disruption to hundreds of
students with lectures in construction, beauty therapy and languages cancelled.
They are angry that the college has failed to implement the second stage of a national pay agreement reached between college employers and trade unions.
This new pay scale would have offered a six per cent increase in pay over two years and more clearly defined pay scales for experienced lecturers.
NATFHE's Southampton City College branch manager secretary Ross Murdoch said even though the college's own pay scheme was offering a three per cent rise, its terms and conditions were less favourable.
College director of resources Annette Bundy said: "The college is particularly disappointed that the action has been planned to take place during the week of the college's Ofsted inspection. It will put staff under further pressure at this busy time."
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