Staff at a Bury college walked out this morning, Tuesday, in the first of three days of strike action over an ongoing pay dispute.
Workers at Holy Cross College on Manchester Road, who are part of the National Education Union (NEU), picketed outside from 8am until 9.30am.
They will also be outside the college making their feelings clear on Wednesday and Thursday at the same time.
The strike is part of industrial action happening at 32 non-academised sixth form colleges across the country with 2,000 NEU teacher members taking part.
It comes after NEU members staged four days of strike action in November and December.
In July, the government announced that teachers and leaders in England would receive a fully funded 5.5 per cent pay rise this academic year.
Although sixth form colleges with academy status have been guaranteed funding to implement the pay offer for staff, this is not the case for those which have not become academies, the union said.
Teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges have been presented with an “inferior pay offer” compared with their peers, according to the NEU.
Since the last day of strike action last month, the Sixth Form Colleges Association has offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5 per cent for September to April and 5.5 per cent from April, the union said.
These teachers will lag behind their peers in academised colleges by two per cent for seven months, which creates a “two-tier” pay system, the NEU warned.
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NEU representative Liam O’Rourke said: “We just want pay justice and to be on equal terms of every other teacher in the country.
“We appreciate the government has been handed a rough deal in terms of what they inherited in July, and they’ve done a good job so far of education, they just need to finish the job with sixth form colleges.
“We’re on strike until Thursday, and our mandate is until May, but we hope to be back in as soon as possible.
“Teaching staff are currently getting a feel for how many members are in the NEU and other unions and seeing how many students are in today.
“We appreciate students’ education is being disrupted and we want to sort it out as soon as possible.”
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In response, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ensuring people have the skills they need for the future is crucial to this government’s number one mission to grow the economy.
“We recognise the vital role that further education, including sixth form colleges, plays in this.
“Sixth form colleges are responsible for the setting of appropriate pay for their workforce and for managing their own industrial relations.
“The October Budget provided an additional £300 million revenue funding for further education to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs.
“The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.”