Further-education college lecturers in Northern Ireland are striking today in a bid to have their wages raised to the same level as those of schoolteachers.
Staff at 16 further education colleges said today they wanted equal treatment, arguing that schoolteachers are earning on average £2,500 more than college lecturers.
Jim McKeown, regional officer of NATFHE, said lecturers were preparing for a sustained campaign of industrial action, with a further strike planned for next Wednesday.
"It is hard-working teachers who deliver the services to students and the community," he said. "They are the ones who deserve the plaudits and the same pay as other teachers. Lecturers have had enough of empty words from their employers."
Around 1,900 staff in the 16 colleges are members of the union.
Mr McKeown said his members were running out of patience with further education college chiefs. He said the industrial action was not aimed at the students but at forcing college administrators to give them parity with schoolteachers, like their counterparts in Wales.
