College lecturers in Scotland have voted in favour of industrial action in a bitter dispute over pay.
More than 96 per cent of the college members of the EIS teaching union who voted in the latest ballet backed strike action.
The union has said this follows a “reneging by college management of a binding national agreement delivering fair pay”, reached more than a year ago.
General secretary Larry Flanagan added: “Instead of working to deliver that agreement - that was freely entered into - college managers have spent the last 12 months dragging their collective feet and attempting to undermine the pay harmonisation that they themselves agreed to in March last year.
“The level of duplicity that has been displayed by college management regarding this pay deal has been simply staggering.”
The Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA) president, John Kelly, added: “Rather than attempting to rewrite history and engaging in spin against a deal that they agreed to, college management need to deliver on the promises they made to lecturers last year.
“Their attempts to tie this pay agreement in to their desire to enforce adverse changes to lecturers’ working conditions are completely disingenuous, given that last year’s deal explicitly acknowledged that the fair pay agreement was not contingent on any changes to working conditions.
“Lecturers do not want to strike, but have been infuriated by the recent actions of college management, and this has resulted in this overwhelming vote for strike action today.”
The EIS said the result of the statutory ballot would now pass to the union’s executive for processing, “including the confirmation of a planned programme of strike dates”.
‘Huge cost’ of the pay deal
College managers have long insisted that last year’s pay deal has to be tied to changes in terms and conditions to be affordable. According to Colleges Scotland, the union’s proposals would mean an average pay increase of 9 per cent for lecturers.
Last month, Tes Scotland reported on a Colleges Scotland Employers’ Association briefing which suggested that the total cost of the deal, added to the lecturing union’s proposal on annual leave and teaching hours, could be £70 million.
The offer from college managers would see some lecturers lose annual leave and work more than their current number of teaching hours.
Shona Struthers, chief executive of the Colleges Scotland Employers’ Association, said it was “hugely disappointing that the EIS are planning to take strike action that will badly affect college students in the run-up to their exams”.
She added: “We have already agreed an average pay rise of 9 per cent over the next two years, but the EIS wants to strike to also get an increase in holidays to 66 days and a reduction in class contact time to 21 hours. The employers are offering 56 days holiday and up to 26 hours class contact time, which we believe is a good package that would be warmly welcomed in other sectors.”
She added: “Time and again we have tried to engage with the EIS on pay and conditions of service, but they remain unwilling to discuss change to professionalise the sector and deliver better value to students and the public purse.
“Our door remains open and we are happy to continue discussions with the EIS, but they have to accept that we both signed up to a total package in March 2016, including changes to terms and conditions, not a pay-only deal.”
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