Further Education

Bosses at Lambeth College in south London could cut make 40 workers redundant as part of a cuts plan to save nearly £4 million. In a statement, the college management said it had begun a consultation with the 97 staff members who could be affected by the cuts, which it says "could potentially result in 30-40 redundancies." Unions at the college are organising against cuts, with a demonstration planned for Saturday 15 June. Activists in both Unison and the University and College Union say they will be pushing for strikes. An activist from local anti-cuts campaign Lambeth Save Our Services said...

Lecturers at Halesowen College will strike on Thursday 14 February to demand reinstatement for four colleagues sacked for trade union activity. The University and College Union (UCU) strike ballot returned a 75% majority in favour of striking. Strikers will also deliver a giant “Valentine’s Day card” petition to college bosses, containing more than 12,000 signatures in support of reinstatement. The lecturers were formally sacked because their students failed to attainment levels, but the union blames college management. It says there are routine problems with “groups being pushed together...

The British Medical Association (BMA), the professional association for doctors, has begun balloting its 103,000 members for industrial action. The BMA is opposed to increases in employee contributions to doctors’ pensions scheme, and the raising of the pension age from 65 to 68. Although the BMA has ruled out a full strike, a positive result in the ballot could see doctors refusing to perform any duties or procedures that could be safely postponed. Doctors last took industrial action in 1975. Justice for Dayna Tube union RMT has launched a high-profile public campaign to win reinstatement for...

Colin Waugh, further education activist and author of Plebs: The Lost Legacy of Independent Working-Class Education, spoke to Solidarity . Q: What sort of deal do working-class people get from further and higher education? A: Further education was transformed by the Thatcherite “de-industrialisation”of the economy. This undermined the clear-cut rationale that existed for further education (FE) prior to the middle 1980s. It’s never really recovered from that. It now consists mainly of vocational courses related to service sector employment in such fields as IT, health and social care...

On 3 March Action for ESOL held a large, national meeting to launch The ESOL Manifesto. The first part of the day was a celebration of the campaign which led to a u-turn on plans to make students on benefits pay fees of up to £1,200 for a course. The proposed cut would have meant that up to 75% of current learners, mainly women from black and minority ethnic groups would not have been able to attend classes anymore. The u-turn was an important victory for the campaign, a coalition of students, teachers, trade unionists, researchers, migrants’ rights activists and many others. It is important...

Teachers across 12 sixth-form colleges in London will take half a day’s strike action on Thursday 23 February. The workers at Brooke House, Christ the King, Coulsden, Havering, Leyton, Newham, Sir George Monoux, City and Islington, St Charles, St Francis Xavier, Woodhouse and John Ruskin will walk out from lunchtime. The strikes are part of a national campaign against cuts to college budgets and attacks on pay and conditions. The strike action, however, is initially limited to London. Funding cuts could mean a 12% for colleges over the next year. The National Union of Teachers has called a...

A funding guidance document published on the Skills Funding Agency website in August quietly revealed a U-turn on cuts to ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). The government has (belatedly) backtracked on proposed changes to funding eligibility, which would have seen as many as 70% of current ESOL students unable to access classes. This is a victory that we should celebrate and communicate to our students, colleagues and supporters who have been campaigning hard since the start of the year through Action for ESOL. We must also acknowledge that this is a not a full victory. In July...

Further education (FE) lecturers are bracing themselves for a round of cuts taking effect in the autumn. Some colleges are already in dispute with management. Further cuts will be inevitable when the change in eligibility to free courses for those on benefits comes through. At the moment there is free provision for individuals on benefits. Next year this will only apply to those on job-seekers’ allowance and who are actively seeking work. Those on inactive benefits (Income Support) will no longer be eligible for free provision and will have to pay fees which are 50% of their programme. This...

Management at Sheffield College have gone on a vicious job cutting offensive, under the guise of voluntary redundancies. In April the CEO of the College (pretty well off on a salary of £140,000 a year) announced the college’s intention to get rid of 60 teaching staff and a further 60 support staff. Up until now the college has used a voluntary redundancy scheme to try and tempt people out without a fight, but with the threat of compulsory redundancies to come. Sheffield College UCU decided to ballot against the threat of compulsory redundancies and members agreed, with an 84% yes vote in the...

Students and workers at Newcastle College have won at least a postponement of cuts. At the beginning of 2011 the college announced plans to cut 171 frontline jobs, 17% of the workforce. Students set up SOS (Save Our Staff) to support lecturers. We began with a banner drop at one of the college’s open evenings to raise the profile. Management tried scare tactics to prevent us taking other action. But we still managed to organise a successful walkout. On 24 March the lecturers’ union UCU organised a march from the college to the university, and yet again there was a great turnout of students. On...