Petition in support of striking staff at Nottingham College staff tops 1,200 signatures
A petition calling for fair contracts at Nottingham College has reached over 1,200 signatures, as staff are due to walk out again today (25 Sept) in their seventh day of strike action as part of a dispute over the imposition of new contracts.
The petition was started by a recent student of the college, and praises Nottingham College staff for creating “one of the most supportive learning environments in Nottinghamshire”. However, it says staff have been “forced to either accept a new unfair contract or face losing their jobs”, and outlines how the new contracts would lead to pay cuts and increasing workloads.
It goes on to say the “conditions the staff will be forced to accept will prevent them from giving their students the support they need”, meaning they “are not in the interests of either party”. It calls for Nottingham College management to negotiate better contracts which give the staff the respect they deserve.
Staff, who have been on strike this week, will be on picket lines again tomorrow (Wednesday) from 8.30am at all the main college entrances including on Maid Marian Way, on Pelham Avenue at the Clarendon Campus and the outside Adams Building in the Lace Market.
UCU members are in the middle of a mammoth 15 days of strike action at the college which will continue into October, with a four-day walkout planned for next week and a full week of action starting on Monday 7 October. The full remaining strike dates are:
Monday 30 September, Tuesday 1, Thursday 3, and Friday 4 October
Monday 7, Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9, Thursday 10 and Friday 11 October
The dispute centres on the college’s move to impose new contracts which would see pay cuts for many staff, as well as removing key protections designed to protect staff against work overload. Staff at the college have not received a pay rise since 2010.
UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said:
“As the support for this petition shows, the move to impose new contracts at Nottingham College has caused real anger – not just among affected staff but also among students and the community. In particular, removing protections against work overload will only damage the ability of staff to provide high quality education for students, and must be resisted.
“Strike action is a last resort for members, but the ball is in the employer’s court. The college management must come back to the negotiating table and properly address the concerns of staff if it wishes to avoid further disruption in the coming weeks.”
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