MORE than 200 staff at York College are set to join a strike by further education lecturers next week.

Regional union chiefs warned that thousands of students in North and East Yorkshire would be affected by the threatened action.

John Giddins, from the Yorkshire and Humberside office of National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), said lecturers and support staff would walk out over pay next Tuesday.

The strike would also affect Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough, and Selby College.

Unions are claiming further education workers do not get paid as much as teachers in schools, and want the gap to be bridged.

Further education staff were angered at a 2.3 per cent pay offer from the Association Of Colleges (AOC) after teachers were offered 3.5 per cent.

Mike Saunders, York branch chairman of NATFHE, said lecturers wanted at least as much as teachers.

He said: "The main reason for the strike is that lecturers have been falling steadily behind teachers in pay and conditions.

"A lecturer starts on £3,000 less than a schoolteacher, and is £6,000 worse off when they reach the top of the scale."

Mr Saunders believes the inequality in pay is resulting in staff going to work in schools or getting out of the industry completely.

Last year, there were 6,000 staff vacancies in further education, and the unions and the AOC agree the problem is low pay.

It is feared the high turnover of staff could have long-term destructive effects on the provision of further education.

Mr Saunders said: "This strike is not just about pay, it is about saving the further education services. Students need stability and quality. They won't get this with the high turnover caused by the pay gap.

"If they do not change anything further, education will quietly die on its feet."

York College Principal Mike Galloway said: "It is a national dispute, not a particular grievance between the staff and York College.

"The college has some sympathy with the staff and their grievances, but regrets the fact they have taken disruptive action to pursue their grievances."

Updated: 11:59 Tuesday, October 29, 2002