TEACHERS at a college in Warrington will join in a national strike against the ‘largest real-terms pay cut in living memory’ this week.

Priestley College on Loushers Lane will see its teachers join 16 other sixth form colleges throughout the north west to take action in the national strike on Wednesday, November 30.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) voted in favour of the action as a response to an inadequate pay offer from the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA).

The union says the SFCA’s offer would provide the majority of teachers with a five per cent pay rise, with a small percentage receiving an 8.9 per cent rise at most – an increase ‘well below inflation’.

Union members have responded to say ‘enough is enough’, calling on the Secretary of State for Education to fully fund their pay demand of an inflation-plus rise.

In total, 77 sixth forms will strike on the day to fight back against ‘historic low pay’, which has seen sixth form teachers experience 20 per cent pay cuts since 2010.

Peter Middleman, regional secretary of the NEU, said: “The Chancellor’s latest budget statement on November 17 did nothing to address the problems with historic low-pay and under-funding in the post-16 sector.

“Like in primary and secondary schools, dedicated professionals in sixth-form colleges, who are preparing young people for the world of further study, vocational advancement and a challenging modern economy are being rewarded for their efforts with the largest real-terms pay cut in living memory.

“This is something our members are simply unwilling to tolerate from a Government of billionaires and billionaires.

“The strength of the mandate for the strike speaks volumes: enough is enough.

“If the Government led by Rishi Sunak is serious about a post-Brexit and post-pandemic recovery being based on rich-knowledge and high-skills, we need to see immediate evidence that it is prepared to release significant funding.

“This is in order to help save the sector and ensure current and future generations have the same choice and opportunity for study that those presiding over the sector had in their own teenage years.”