TEACHING staff at Kirklees College have decided the date for their one-day strike.

But college leaders have pledged that vital exams for hundreds of students will not be disrupted by next Thursday's strike.

The strike action has been backed by 79% of University and College Union (UCU) members at the college after the union failed to reach an agreement with educational leaders.

Officials claim that almost 60 staff face pay cuts of between £2,000 and £12,000 a year or detrimental changes to their terms and conditions. After voluntary redundancies, six further jobs are still at risk and students needing extra help will be hardest hit, they say.

The union is calling on the college to remove the threat of compulsory redundancies and to stop staff being downgraded.

Melanie Brooke, Kirklees College’s vice-principal, said: “Our number one priority is our students. We are currently working to ensure there is no disruption to them at this crucial time of year.

“We are meeting with staff and managers to try to get a better understanding of how action will affect our centres.

“However, we are clear that examinations will not be disrupted.”

The college claims that less than five staff members are at risk and voluntary redundancies have allowed them to redeploy staff whose jobs were previously at risk.

Principal Peter McCann said: “The college’s priority is to continue the excellent quality of provision that students receive at Kirklees College. To do this we must have a workforce designed to best meet our student and college needs and which is financially sustainable.

“Student recruitment is now a major focus for the college and these changes and the new building will ensure that the college is in a secure place to move forward.

“We have been and will continue to be in regular dialogue with our staff and the trade union representatives. We will seek to manage this process as supportively as is possible within the enormous financial constraints we are under.”

The college has come under fire for the one-year delay in the £73m Waterfront Campus , now due to open in September.

The college is struggling to balance the books with government funding being slashed and loan interest payments on the new building set to reach £2m a year.

UCU regional official, Julie Kelley, said: “UCU members have made it quite clear that they are prepared to take industrial action to defend their pay and the education of their students.

“Strike action is always a last resort, but there is a genuine anger about the way the college has mismanaged recent events.

“Style is never a replacement for substance and fewer teachers with bigger classes and increased workloads are a poor return for new buildings and scant reward for staff who worked so hard to deliver a glowing Ofsted report.

“If the college is allowed to push these changes through, local students will suffer – especially those who require additional support with their literacy and numeracy skills and their main studies.”

Kirklees College has a total teaching workforce of 522. Some 136 UCU members (54%) took part in the ballot.