LECTURERS at Huddersfield University took part in a one-day national strike over pay today.

Members of the University and College Lecturers Union Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers picketed outside the main entrance on Queensgate.

Natfhe branch secretary Noel Gilzean said a "considerable proportion" of its 267 members and the 40 members of the AUT were taking part in the walk-out.

"We are very angry at the way we have been treated over a number of years. We are professionals and don't want to do anything that will affect students but we have been left with no choice," said Mr Gilzean, a senior lecturer in psychology. "Over the years we have fallen considerably behind comparable professions and we have decided to make a concerted effort to get some of that money back."

Nationally the AUT and Natfhe have reacted angrily to claims from their employers that they earn on average more than £40,000 a year.

Head of the universities department at Natfhe Roger Kline said the figures completely ignored the tens of thousands of lecturers on hourly paid or fixed term contracts at far lower salaries.