Staff at Bournemouth and Poole College are set to begin three days of strike action after pay talks broke down
Author: Jamie GuerraPublished 45 minutes ago
Staff at Bournemouth & Poole College are set to begin three days of strike action after talks with management failed to produce what unions describe as a fair offer on pay and working conditions.
The University and College Union (UCU), alongside sister unions including the NEU, GMB, UNISON and Unite, says staff have been left with little choice after months of negotiations.
The unions are calling for pay parity with schoolteachers, national workload agreements and a binding national bargaining framework for further education.
The dispute highlights long-standing concerns across the sector, where college lecturers earn on average £9,000 less than teachers in schools.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said industrial action was a last resort: “Staff at Bournemouth & Poole College have been left with no choice,” she said. “There is still time for management to make a fair offer that helps close the pay gap between school and college teachers.
“Our demands are reasonable and employers must now agree to meaningful sectoral bargaining so further education can avoid the cycle of strike ballots and disruption we’ve seen in recent years.”
The union says national-level bargaining is needed to prevent repeated local disputes and provide stability for staff and students.
In a statement, Bournemouth and Poole College said it respected staff’s right to strike and remained committed to dialogue.
It said it had awarded a 3% pay rise in summer 2025 and that pay across the college has increased by a cumulative 15.8% since 2022.
“As a government-funded organisation, we must work within the constraints of our budget,” a spokesperson said. “If funding increases, we will evaluate the opportunity to raise pay further.”
The college said it had contingency plans in place to minimise disruption, confirming it would remain open and students would be kept informed.