To those who turn up in Lycra to practise their sun salutations and downward dogs, a yoga class can represent a moment of calm reflection. For a group of instructors in Colchester, however, teaching yoga has become a much more stressful business.
Yoga, pilates and aerobics instructors employed by Colchester city council are balloting on possible strike action, after what their union says is nearly a decade without a pay rise.
Unison says the 11 instructors, who work at the Leisure World complex and one other site, are paid considerably less than the private going rate and well below the pay level at neighbouring councils in Essex.
They say their hourly rate does not reflect the extra time it takes to prepare for sessions, set up, clear up and answer questions from class members – meaning more than two hours’ work goes into each session.
The yoga and pilates teachers’ rates have been stuck at £25 an hour since 2015, while neighbouring Tendring council pays £5 more, Unison says.
“It’s a wonderful community at Leisure World, and the people taking classes are so supportive of each other,” said Arlene, a yoga instructor who has worked for the council since 2016. “But I don’t even reach the minimum wage for the classes I teach, with all the preparation that goes into them.”
The instructors are unhappy that their pay is determined on a different scale to other local authority staff and say the council refused to review the yoga and pilates teachers’ hourly rates until last year.
When this was considered, in August 2023, senior managers offered no rise at all, while aerobics instructors rejected an offer of a £2.50 increase to their £22.50 hourly rate, according to Unison.
“It doesn’t feel like we’re even considered to be working for the council,” said Arlene. “They’ve never increased the market rate. Everyone else in the building gets a pay rise, but we’re forgotten.”
The instructors “are bending over backwards to provide the best service they can”, said the Unison eastern area organiser, Emma Aboubaker. “But bosses can’t stretch to more than one pay rise a decade.
“Fitness instructors provide a vital service for the city’s public health, but they’re also bringing paying residents into leisure centres. They deserve a proper pay rise.”
The council’s chief executive, Pam Donnelly, said: “Like every resident and business in the UK, the cost-of-living crisis alongside the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, rising energy costs and the current economic climate is placing an unprecedented pressure on local authority budgets, and Colchester city council is no exception.”
The council has improved its pay offer to the workers and hopes to reach a resolution, she said. Unison’s ballot closes on 1 February.
The UK’s estimated 10,000 yoga teachers are subject to the same pressures as other gig workers, according to the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which in 2021 established the first dedicated branch for yoga instructors.
“As is the case with many precarious industries, yoga teachers are atomised and individualised, leaving us vulnerable to exploitation,” said a spokesperson for the IWGB yoga teachers’ branch.
“Without proper protection that most workers would have, teachers are not only victims of inadequate pay and a lack of employment rights but also are vulnerable to sexual harassment and violence, without real reporting mechanisms and a fear of personal repercussions for speaking out against abuse.”
