A LECTURER who has worked at Barnsley College for almost 20 years says he "shudders to think" what the job will be like in three years' time.

Trade union branch secretary Dave Gibson, who teaches English, was addressing fellow UCU members at a rally in Mandela Gardens yesterday as up to 200 lecturers and staff went on strike.

They walked out in a row about pay grading and workload following a restructure which, they claim, meant some staff were told to take a lesser paid job or be made redundant.

Those who stayed on are now known as associate teachers or instructors but on yesterday's picket line said they were doing the same job but with an annual wage decrease of up to £12,000.

Lecturers are also objecting to proposals for an extra hour of teaching per week because they already can't give increasing students numbers the time they need.

Mr Gibson said an ideal A-level class size would be 15 to 18 students so each one had time to make a contribution in lessons but class sizes are often more than 30.

A college spokesman said: "Barnsley College had formal consultations with UCU between June 10 and July 9. In the two months since the college has not received any meeting requests or correspondence from the UCU, except for industrial action notification last week; this was after an extended ballot period throughout the summer which, it can only be assumed, was planned to directly affect our learners."