Support staff at Barnsley College are to walk out for three weeks during February and March over the employer’s continuing refusal to negotiate over pay, UNISON says today (Monday).
Staff will walk out for all of next week (Monday 26 February to Friday 1 March). They’ll do the same for two weeks in March (Monday 11 to Friday 15, and Monday 18 to Friday 22) as college managers continue to refuse to enter local pay negotiations with unions.
Staff have already taken 11 days of industrial action since September.
During the dispute, the college has implemented a number of changes to pay structures without speaking to unions or staff, UNISON says.
The union says college employees cannot depend on the goodwill of senior managers to ensure wages keep up with rising living costs.
UNISON invited the college to meet via arbitration service Acas earlier this month in an effort to avoid further strike action. Instead, college managers demanded a face to face meeting with union representatives, in which they again said they would not agree to local pay talks.
UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser Robin Symonds said: “Industrial action is always a last resort, but unfortunately Barnsley College has again left staff with no option.
“UNISON has repeatedly tried to reach an agreement with managers to avoid further strikes. But their unwillingness to negotiate is dragging this dispute on for everyone.
“Not only that, the college’s insistence on holding an in-person meeting during heavy snow, just to tell unions its position isn’t changing, shows it isn’t serious about solving the dispute.
“Staff want to get back to doing the jobs they love, but need to be paid fairly. The longer senior managers refuse to negotiate, the longer staff and pupils are being made to suffer.”
