Video | Manchester AQA strikers speak out

Ian Allinson interviewed three UNISON strikers on the Manchester picket line at exam board AQA as part of a strike that also includes sites in Guildford and Milton Keynes.

After a thumping majority and turnout in their ballot, the workers were taking their third strike day on Friday, 22 May, in a battle over pay restoration and against an unfair pay system that has generated significant gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

To clarify something said in the video about this, the figures for AQA’s gender pay gaps are as follows:

2025-2026: 11.5% (median, down 1.9%), 10.8% (mean, up 1.3%)

2024-2025: 13.4% (median), 9.5% (mean)

Many workers are paid less than the Living Wage Foundation rate for half the year, and over ten percent of the workforce use food banks. The union branch at AQA has nearly trebled in size over the last four years. Unite also have members at the Guildford site, who are currently balloting to join the action.

Green MP Hannah Spencer visited the picket in the morning. Later in the day, strikers enjoyed picket-line ice creams and then held a rally with speakers from local union branches and the trades council.

The employer has not agreed to talks, but further strike dates are being planned to keep the pressure up. Check their social media for updates (X, BlueSky, Insta, Facebook) and spread the word about the dispute. You can send messages of support by email and use the same address to request details of their strike fund.

• This article was amended on 3rd June 2026 to add clarification on the gender pay gap figures and to correct our summary which stated the employer had agreed to talks, which was not the case.