Unions representing college lecturers and support staff have rejected a pay offer by their employers, which falls short of the 2.5% on offer to teachers.
The University and College Union (UCU), GMB, Unison and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers called for a wage increase in line with teacher’s earnings.
However, according to UCU, the Association of Colleges offered 2% from 1 August 2007 and an additional 0.5% from 1 January 2008 on all scales and allowances.
The offer is well below the current inflation rate of 4.5%.
However, Barry Lovejoy head of further education at UCU said there had been some positive news to come out of the negotiations.
“I am pleased we seem to be making some progress on the non-pay issues of workloads and staff development, but a pay offer of this level is clearly unacceptable. This does not help to close the pay gap with school teachers. The employers must improve on this at their next meeting with the unions.”
The unions have called for a revised offer when they next meet on 26 June.
