A STRIKE by college lecturers over pay will not stop Deeside College opening for business as it prepares for the summer exams.

Members of the NATFHE University and College Lecturers Union decided to take industrial action after accusing colleges throughout Wales of refusing to recognise past UK pay settlements.

Now they want to close the pay gap between themselves and schoolteachers and will picket Deeside and other colleges in Wales while a larger contingent descends on the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff.

'We want an immediate #3,000 pay rise,' said a union spokesman. 'Over the last eight years lecturers pay has fallen and there are huge gaps between our earnings and our contemporaries.'

And college principal Wil Edmunds agreed: 'The lecturers do have a case. David Blunkett, the Education Minister, promised English lecturers a big boost but the Assembly didn't follow suit.

'Now lecturers on both sides of the border will strike on Tuesday to try to get a better pay deal.

'The college will remain open however. I have been told that a number of lecturers will be working that day and people should still attend the college.'