Further education lecturers were today staging a one-day strike over their London allowance, which they say is amongst the lowest for professionals in the capital.
University and college lecturers' union Natfhe wants a £4000 extra weighting allowance to help its members' pay more closely reflect the cost of living in London. This afternoon, a delegation of lecturers will go to Downing Street with a letter for the prime minister.
"The employers had an opportunity to avoid disruption to students at this key time just before exams by making an acceptable offer," said Louis Wood, Natfhe's London region spokesperson. "They have not held out a glimmer of hope that our concerns about the exorbitant costs of living in the capital will be addressed. Every time housing, transport and the costs of living essentials rise, our wages in effect decline."
Nafthe cited research which shows that London workers need at least £4,200 extra in pay to achieve the same value of pay as workers in other parts of the country. Negotiations between Natfhe and the Association of Colleges (AoC), the college employers, broke down last week after the latter refused to improve its offer.
Sue Dutton, Aoc deputy chief executive, said London colleges could not afford the claim: "The AoC surveyed its London member colleges on the affordability of the £4000 claim for the London allowance with effect from August 1 2004 and their reply was unequivocal.
"The AoC is working for pay modernisation across the country: £45m of our £1.9 bn comprehensive spending review submission is dedicated to workforce modernisation in order to recruit, retain and develop high quality staff."
"The association advised the trade unions that the findings of the survey indicate many colleges no longer pay London allowances and have consolidated historical allowances into core salaries and that the salary ranges are used to pay staff at appropriate levels in London, which are higher than elsewhere in the country.
She added: "The association, therefore, has no mandate to make any revised recommendation beyond 3% for 2004, which was recommended in 2003."
Colleges across the capital are expected to face disruption after 77% of lecturers taking part in a ballot voted to strike. At least 25 colleges in London will be affected.
Currently, a new schoolteacher in inner London receives a weighting allowance of £3,417 and an experienced teacher up to £5,943. Firefighters get £4,300, while London police get an extra £6,165 in allowances. Further education lecturers are paid between £1,643 and £2,772 extra.
"The system of London weighting in FE colleges is complete anarchy," said Barry Lovejoy, head of Natfhe's colleges department. "Not one college pays the same as another, and none of them pay a decent enough wage to live in London. The longer this anarchy is allowed to go on, we will continue to see a negative impact on colleges' ability to recruit and keep experienced, high quality staff."
