College lecturers strike over pay

Croydon College in south London has 13,000 full and part-time students

Lecturers at three colleges in London are staging a one-day strike over what union leaders say is a long-running dispute over salaries.

Staff in Croydon and Greenwich and at the College of North-West London are affected, along with colleagues at five other locations across England.

The University and College Union said those institutions had not delivered a national pay deal reached in 2004.

The Association of Colleges said it was "disappointed" about the action.

The union said its members at the affected colleges were each owed an extra £4,500 a year.

The staff are not greedy. They are merely asking for the money they should have been paid four years ago Sally Hunt University and College Union

It described the issue as "one of the longest 'IOUs' from management to staff in the history of industrial relations".

Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: "The staff are not greedy,"

"They are merely asking for the money they should have been paid four years ago."

She claimed the colleges had pushed members' patience too far and forced them into the industrial action.

She called for the colleges to reach a solution with union leaders, adding that other places facing similar situations had managed to come up with flexible agreements.

Eleven colleges have refused to implement the deal agreed in 2004, but talks are under way at three of these, resulting in strike action being postponed, a union spokesman said.

Each institution will work hard to minimise any disruption to students Evan Williams Association of Colleges

Evan Williams, the director of employment and professional services at the Association of Colleges, said he anticipated that "a small minority of staff in these colleges will take part in action".

"Each institution will work hard to minimise any disruption to students," he added in a statement.

"It remains unclear why these particular institutions have been targeted for action."

The colleges affected by Thursday's walkout take on tens of thousands of students each year.