LECTURERS at West Thames College went on strike to defend their right to a 'decent pension'.
Members of the University and College Union demonstrated with placards outside the London Road college on Thursday morning after they were told there would be cuts to their pension scheme as well as a pay freeze.
Pam Singer, a lecturer in Trade Union Studies at the Isleworth college, said: “Staff are going to have to work longer hours for less pay. Further Education (FE) is very much the Cinderella service where funding is already very poor, but these changes mean we are going to have to pay more into our pensions to get less out.”
Pam who has worked at West Thames for seven years, is one of around 50 lecturers at the college who is facing redundancy due to government funding cuts. Unless a very lucrative rabbit is pulled out of the hat I am going to lose my job.”
Sandra Harding-Deans, a teacher education lecturer, said: “I think moral is fairly low and I think we all accept it's tough times and we have to take our share of it but we will be working longer without a favourable pension.
“We accept that our pay levels are lower than other comparably skilled professions because we love working with students and doing what we do, but then they hit you with this and it's like a final blow.”
As part of its programme of cuts, the government is demanding cuts of up to £852 million from the Teachers' Pension Scheme.
The government want staff in colleges and universities to pay more into their pensions, for a typical FE lecturer this could mean an extra £90 a month.
They also want them to work longer, moving the retirement age to 65, and want to use a lower level of inflation to measure how much their pensions should rise by, meaning a typical FE lecturer would lose around £36,000 in retirement.
Marjorie Semple, principle at West Thames, said: “Just under 25 per cent of staff at West Thames College are members of the UCU and may therefore choose to participate in the proposed strike action. Our number one priority at all times is to ensure that we do everything we can to minimise any disruption to our students. We are pleased that the majority of classes at the college will continue to run as normal.
“The college is sympathetic to its employees' concerns relating to the uncertain future of public sector pensions. This forms just part of the forthcoming government funding cuts to the further and higher education sectors. It will be a very challenging time for us all.”
