Lecturers at 70 further education colleges which are accused of failing to give their staff promised pay rises have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.
The one-day walk-out is now set for February 24 after three quarters of lecturers taking part in the ballot backed the action.
The poll of more than 9,300 teaching staff in the 70 colleges in England was organised by their union Natfhe. There was a 43.4% response rate.
The deal is supposed to improve lecturers' pay by an average of 8%. It included a 3% rise in 2003/04 followed by another 3% rise in 2004/5. Crucially, in the second year the deal also included the introduction of a new pay structure that would give further increases.
But lecturers at the colleges claim that deal has not been implemented.
Natfhe said the strike was the first in what would turn into an "escalating programme of industrial action" by further education lecturers who want to see the 10% pay gap between them and schoolteachers closed.
Barry Lovejoy, Natfhe's head of colleges' department, said, "Lecturers have voted to strike because they could see no other way forward. When this deal was agreed, college staff were delighted that, at long last, they would catch up with their schoolteacher colleagues.
"But six months later, far too many colleges are refusing to honour the full deal, leaving lecturers lagging behind in the salary stakes."
However, Mr Lovejoy pointed out that since the ballot began, some colleges have entered into talks and reached settlements. "There is still time for other colleges to avoid the disruption. I urge all principals to contact Natfhe and agree a roadmap for settlement with the local branch."
The deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, Sue Dutton, called the strike action "premature". She said: "A small number of colleges are going to be affected by industrial action. The majority of these colleges are still in pay talks and most are experiencing financial difficulty due to the current funding regime. Almost all will not yet know what their entire financial envelope is for the coming year. Therefore, we continue to argue that this industrial action is premature and we would ask the lecturers' union Natfhe to continue to discuss pay arrangements locally in good faith without resorting to this action."
Earlier today, ballot papers were sent out to Natfhe members in further and higher education colleges to canvas their opinion on a strike over pensions - the government is proposing that the pension age be changed from 60 to 65 for education professionals.
