Lecturers at Hackney Community College took strike action on Thursday 7th April, in protest at the College telling staff that they would be made redundant.


The college has a £1.6m deficit, and has been threatening job cuts for some time. However, it seemed that these would be achieved through voluntary severance, and in a series of meeting with lecturers’ trade union NATFHE, college management gave no notice of compulsory redundancies.



However, on Friday 18th April – the last day of spring term – groups of teachers were summoned to the college’s administrative headquarters, and told that they were to be sent notice of redundancy. The union believes that since there was not notice to or consultation with the union, this action was illegal.



The job cuts affect many college departments, including special needs, adult literacy, ceramics and pottery, and sign language courses. The teacher training course, recently rated grade 1, will be closed, and the people who run it made redundant. Some courses – such as art, dance and drama – will be made ‘full-fee’, making them unaffordable to many in the local community.



Staff held a large impromptu meeting, and voted that they have no confidence in the college’s management. Around 90 staff marched with their union banner and held a spontaneous protest in the room where their colleagues were being told of the redundancies.



Thursday’s strike was solid – even better than last October’s – and all classes were closed.



The following day, a hundred staff and students held a demonstration in the college, which coincided with an ‘Investors in People’ inspection. It turned out that the IiP inspector had asked to meet with union representatives but college management had failed to pass on the invitation.



As a result of the strike, the college has postponed sending out the redundancy notices. It now plans to send them out on 18th April, for redundancy to take effect on 1st May.



The teachers’ campaign has achieved good coverage in the local press. They now intend to make it an issue in the forthcoming General Election and Hoxton by-election. NATFHE will host a public meeting, and may escalate its strike action.



Richard Payne, of Hackney Community College’s NATFHE branch, told Hackney TUC that “These cuts are going to be catastrophic for the people of Hackney. Further education is severely under-funded by the government, and remains the ‘Cinderella’ of the education system.”



Peter Friend, NATFHE Executive member, added: “Education should be free to all. But instead, courses which have run for years for the benefit of people in Hackney are going to stop.”



Hackney TUC is giving our full support to NATFHE’s campaign. Keep coming back to this website to check for updates.



• Send messages of support to Maggie Carmen, NATFHE, Hackney Community College, Falkirk St, London N1 6HQ e-mail c/o