COLLEGE lecturers are to strike over pay.
Lecturers' union Natfhe said up to 26,600 of its members in 226 colleges in England - including Dewsbury College - will walk out on Wednesday, November 16.
The union said 71% of those who responded to a ballot backed strike action as part of a long-running dispute.
Lecturers have been campaigning for equal pay with school teachers, who they say earn an average 10% more.
Natfhe's head of colleges, Barry Lovejoy, said the pay gap between schools and colleges was a recruitment crisis waiting to happen.
"The Government tells us that further education is the `engine of a successful, dynamic economy' so why does it leave our colleges running on empty?" he asked.
"Our members are angry and resentful that whilst more and more is expected of them, their pay is slipping further and further behind schoolteachers.
"Given a choice between colleges and schools, it is not hard to see which new recruits would opt for.
"With 50% of the further education workforce due to retire within a decade, this is a disaster waiting to happen."
The strike was prompted by a 2.8% pay offer from college employers for this academic year.
The union said this would see the pay gap between school teachers and college lecturers widen further.
The strike next week will coincide with a planned rally by lecturers in Birmingham, where Education Secretary Ruth Kelly will be visiting the Association of Colleges annual conference.
