Both the NASUWT and UCU, who between them represent the vast majority of further education (FE) lecturers in Northern Ireland, are asking their members to vote on industrial action.
On the ballots, lecturers are asked to vote for strike action and action short of strike.
Teachers in Northern Ireland recently turned down a 5.5% pay offer for 2024/25, saying a failure to deal with increasing workloads was a key reason for rejecting the offer.
They have now begun action short of strike in schools.
Pay for FE lecturers is negotiated separately from that of teachers, but workload has also been cited as a significant concern.
There are six FE colleges in Northern Ireland with more than 63,000 students.
They teach a large range of vocational and academic subjects to a wide variety of students, and are a major part of Northern Ireland's education system.
But lecturers in FE colleges have often been paid less than teachers in schools.
A pay deal in 2024 averted strikes in FE colleges, and brought pay parity with teachers at some grades.
However, unions have said that parts of that agreement have not been fulfilled and that is why they are balloting members for strike action.
Katharine Clarke, the UCU's Northern Ireland official, said full pay parity with schoolteachers had not been delivered.
"Ten months on and the employers have failed to progress the parity commitment and all of the non-pay elements of the deal," she said.
"Our members stood down industrial action to accept the employers' offer, regrettably it now seems clear they were sold a pup."
She also accused the college employers of having "no desire to protect their staff from ever increasing workloads".
