SIXTH form teachers from Carmel College were on the picket line today as industrial action was held by the National Education Union over a pay dispute.

Strikers said they have been offered a pay increase that is a “real terms cut” and are calling for a “fully funded pay rise”.

NEU members have also called for a “better funded sixth form education”. The union said members have voted to take strike action in response to” an inadequate pay offer” from the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), which they say is well below inflation.

The NEU said 88.5 per cent of members voted yes in a statutory ballot to strike action.

The union claims sixth form college teachers have seen “a 20 per cent cut in real terms pay since 2010”. It adds the SFCA’s offer would see most teachers receive a five per cent pay award, rising to 8.9 per cent for a small minority.

It is understood around 15 per cent of Carmel’s teachers are NEU members, with some of the strikers stood outside the college gate on Prescot Road today.

In total there 77 Sixth Form Colleges across England have seen industrial action taken today,a lso including nearby Winstanley College in Wigan which takes students from St Helens.

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Peter Middleman, regional secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The Chancellor’s latest budget statement on November 17 did nothing to address the problems with historic low-pay and under-funding in the Post-16 sector.

“Like in primary and secondary schools, dedicated professionals in sixth-form colleges, who are preparing young people for the world of further study, vocational advancement and a challenging modern economy are being rewarded for their efforts with the largest real-terms pay cut in living memory and this is something our members are simply unwilling to tolerate from a government of millionaires and billionaires. The strength of the mandate for the strike speaks volumes: enough is enough.”

He added: “If the government led by Rishi Sunak is serious about a post-Brexit and post-pandemic recovery being based on rich-knowledge and high-skills, we need to see immediate evidence that they are prepared to release significant funding in order to help save the sector and ensure current and future generations have the same choice and opportunity for study that those presiding over the sector had in their own teenage years”.

Carmel College did not comment on the NEU strike when contacted by the Star.