Scotland’s college employers' association has written to lecturers, reminding them that they are “by far the best paid in the UK”.
The letter comes as members of the EIS-FELA union, which represents teaching staff in Scotland’s colleges, prepare to walk out on strike tomorrow – and also ballot on whether to take further action short of strike action, which would include withholding students’ assessment results.
In the letter, Alex Linkston, chair of the Colleges Scotland Employers’ Association, says the unusual step of writing to lecturers directly had been taken as the union “continually misrepresents the pay offers colleges are making”.
Read more: 'We should not be on strike today'
More news: Union threatens to withhold students' results
Background: College teacher pay higher in Scotland than England
'Putting college students at a disadvantage'
In a separate statement, Mr Linkston said: “The fourth day of EIS-FELA strike action of 2019 is looming on Thursday 21 March, but they have never actually taken any of our offers to their members to see if they would accept them.
“Colleges are gravely concerned with the direction the EIS-FELA is heading in as they are committed to withholding assessment results if they receive a mandate from their members for action short of strike action.
“Such a course of action would severely affect students in the sector as, without external verification by awarding bodies, they would be unable to achieve their qualifications, meaning they would be unable to move on to other courses at college or university, finalise their apprenticeships or move into jobs.
"This cannot be right, and we believe many lecturers will be aghast at this ploy, and, if so, we ask them to make it clear to their EIS-FELA branches that they do not want to put the students at such a disadvantage.”
Mr Linkston, who is chair of the board at West Lothian College, said lecturers in Scotland were “by far the best paid in the UK, and the pay harmonisation rises from 2017 to 2020, combined with the current pay offer on the table from colleges, equates to a national average increase of over £5,000”.
“But the EIS-FELA has rejected this and refuses to make any concessions or compromises at all," he added. "We are urging lecturers to make it clear to the EIS-FELA that it is finally time for them to engage meaningfully and actually negotiate.”
'Lecturers forced to take action'
As part of Scotland's return to national bargaining, a pay deal has been agreed that sees lecturers migrate on to a single pay scale. However, the deal does not include a cost-of-living pay increase, which is at the core of the current dispute between management and staff. Lecturers have repeatedly stated that management have been unwilling to negotiate on the increase, which they stress is separate from any harmonisation deals that have already been agreed. They plan to take strike action tomorrow, and the ballot on action short of strike action is due to close over the next week.
EIS-FELA president Pam Currie told Tes in February that the union had "attempted to negotiate with management for over two years and our members have now been forced to take [...] strike action". "We made it clear to management that if they failed to enter into meaningful negotiations, we would have no option but to escalate our action, and we are now preparing to do just that,” she said.
In the employer’s association letter today, Mr Linkston says the EIS-FELA negotiating team's sole tactic deployed had been to "refuse to engage in any meaningful, two-way process of negotiation and instead demand that the Scottish government puts more increases into lecturers’ pay". "However, this isn’t going to happen given the financial pressures the Holyrood administration are having to manage,” he adds.
Last October, Tes reported that average lecturer pay in April 2018 was £35,809 in Scotland, while by comparison, average lecturer pay in England was £30,035 in 2017, according to University and College Union calculations based on responses from 166 colleges. College staff in Wales and Northern Ireland are on common pay scales, but average salaries lag behind those in England
Larry Flanagan, EIS general secretary, said: “This is a disingenuous statement from Colleges Scotland, which continues to conflate harmonised equal pay with a cost-of-living pay rise. It also inaccurately portrays the steps the EIS has taken to keep its members fully informed throughout the dispute, as well as the content of these communications
"It is a blatant attempt by Colleges Scotland to bypass the proper collective bargaining process with trade unions via the National Joint Negotiating Committee. This is a clear breach of the Fair Work Convention and the latest example of unacceptable behaviour by a management body that is clearly unwilling to negotiate in good faith towards a fair pay settlement for college lecturers.”
