Staff at all six Further Education (FE) colleges in Northern Ireland are to be offered voluntary redundancy amid "an extremely challenging fiscal and political climate".
In a letter to staff, college employers said a voluntary severance scheme will be initiated over the coming months.
It comes as the University and College Union (UCU), which represents the majority of around 1,700 FE lecturers, are currently engaged in a week of strike action in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
Katharine Clarke, UCU NI official, said that the issuing of the letters during the industrial action was a "blatant attempt to intimidate our members into abandoning legitimate strike action".
Staff at FE colleges across the north have been on the picket line since Monday with walkouts set to continue over the next three months with each college set to take one day of strike action once every six days.
In the letter sent from the college employers to staff, it states that "it is necessary for the college to initiate consultation on a voluntary severance scheme over the coming months".
"This is a result of an extremely challenging fiscal and political climate in which the Further Education sector's budget has already been cut by almost £9m in the current (2023/24) financial year, as well as other pressures being experienced due to cost increases."
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The letter adds that with FE funding "not secured beyond the current year"..."the financial pressure will continue to increase in subsequent years, so some reform is likely to be required".
"If this becomes necessary, I would hope to achieve any reduction in staffing through this voluntary severance scheme which will be strongly aligned to the colleges' delivery needs moving forward," the letter said.
The employers also acknowledge that the letter is "arriving with you amidst a time of industrial action which is already challenging for all".
But the UCU said it was "extremely disappointed the employers had prioritised threatening staff above seeking resolution".
It added that college employers have "long maintained there is a recruitment and retention problem for lecturer posts because of pay decline".
"At the point lecturers take action to address real terms pay cuts, those same employers tell lecturers their jobs are at risk," the union said.
It added that industrial action will continue and members will "not waver in the face of vague redundancy warnings".
