College bosses will be put under pressure today as lecturers hold a day of strike action in a bid to get them to recognise a national pay deal.

Three Midland colleges will be among 20 across the country staging walk-outs with lecturers and students from the region also taking part in a lobby outside the Houses of Parliament.

College lecturers' union NATFHE hopes to force managers to recognise a pay deal it has agreed with the Association of Colleges.

It would improve lecturers' pay by an average of eight per cent bridging what NATFHE claims is a ten per cent wage gap with teachers. The three Midland colleges facing strike action are Fircroft in Selly Oak, Birmingham; Hereward College in Coventry and Newcastle-under-Lyme College in Staffordshire.

A further two colleges - Burton Technical College in Staffordshire and Wolverhampton College - have averted action at the last minute by agreeing to enter into negotiations. NATFHE warned future action was earmarked for a further four colleges in the area - Matthew Boulton, Sandwell, South Birmingham and Dudley - unless they agreed to the deal.