LECTURERS and support workers from across East Lancashire will join staff from across the country for a one-day walkout next week in a protest over pay.

Some 60,000 further education college staff, including lecturers, cleaners, technicians and support staff, will join the strike on Tuesday.

Burnley College is likely to face closure on the strike day as the staff protest against a 2.3 per cent pay offer from employers.

Accrington and Rossendale College and Blackburn College are also set to join the industrial action, which could involve more than 450 workers.

The main college unions, NATFHE and Unison, say urgent action is needed to stem the flow of staff leaving the further education sector where almost two-thirds of staff are looking for another job.

The unions claim the Government will fail to meet targets aimed at improving key skills such as IT, computing and engineering, unless the crisis is addressed.

They are urging the employers, the Association of Colleges, to restart negotiations over pay in a bid to resolve the dispute.

Peter Jones, the NATFHE branch secretary for Burnley College, said: "Staff are leaving colleges in droves. Who is going to train and support all the new students?

"Colleges have been under-funded for years and staff have watched their pay fall in comparison with school staff and the rest of the public sector.

"Until it addresses low pay, the Government cannot meet its existing targets and certainly can't expect any more FE staff."

Mr Jones said although employers had offered a pay rise of 3.5 per cent to staff at Burnley College, they were still prepared to join the dispute as a show of solidarity with colleagues at other colleges.