Established 1847 'for the promotion of Sound Learning'
FELA - News Release
Article created: Tuesday, Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Edinburgh's Telford College Lecturers Step Up Strike Action in Protest at creation of "Two-Tier Workforce"
Lecturing staff at Edinburgh's Telford College are stepping up their programme of strike action to 2 days per week from today (2 October), as they continue their fight against the imposition of radically diminished employment terms for temporary lecturing staff.
Members of Scotland's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, are furious that the college management has entered into an agreement with a private recruitment agency, Protocol National, to provide temporary lecturing staff. There was no meaningful consultation on the change, despite the major implications for the employment terms, conditions and pay of those affected.
Commenting on the strike action, EIS President Kirsty Devaney said, “The management at Edinburgh's Telford College have unilaterally forced through a change which creates a two-tier workforce amongst the lecturing staff. This change, which was introduced without proper consultation with staff or their union, will force temporary lecturers to become self-employed contractors working through an English-based recruitment agency. As a result, those lecturers will lose a whole host of employment rights – this will include a cut in pay, the loss of pension rights and a lack of access to the training and professional development which they require to keep their skills up to date. The creation of a two-tier workforce will have a serious and damaging impact on the morale of lecturers, and will also damage the quality of educational experience available to students at the college.”
Ms Devaney added, “The introduction of Protocol National, an English-based agency with limited knowledge of the labour market in the Edinburgh communities served by Telford College, has failed to solve any recruitment problems at the college. It is a serious indictment of the management at the college that they feel that they have to hand over some of their own management duties, and thousands of pounds of public money, to a profit making private company based hundreds of miles away. Further education is all about engaging with and serving the local community, and questions must be asked if the management are unable to source and manage qualified local people to fill temporary lecturing posts. The management at the College have also refused to divulge precisely how much money they are paying Protocol National for their services – this is public money which is being lost from the Scottish Further Education system and which could be much better spent providing an improved educational experience for the Edinburgh community.”
“The EIS remains totally opposed to the use of agency staff to fill lecturing posts”, added Ms Devaney. “Such casual employment of poorly paid lecturers on short-term contracts with few employment rights undermines the principles of sound learning which all students in Further Education Colleges deserve. The EIS and the lecturers in the college will not stand back while the college attacks the conditions of a section of its own staff, creating a two-tier workforce which will do untold damage to the service available to students. This strike action has been forced by the actions of the management team, and we call upon them to reconsider their plan as a matter of urgency so that a resolution can be found in the interest of the students, their lecturers and the college itself.”
(ENDS)
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Notes for editors:
- The scheduled dates for strike action by EIS members at Edinburgh's Telford College are as follows: Tuesday 2nd October and Wednesday 3rd October; Tuesday 9th October and Wednesday 10th October; Tuesday 23rd October and Wednesday 24th October; Tuesday 30th October and Wednesday 31st October; Wednesday 7th November and Thursday 8th November; Wednesday 14th November and Thursday 15th November; Wednesday 21st November and Thursday 22nd November; Wednesday 28th November and Thursday 29th November; Wednesday 5 December and Thursday 6th December; Tuesday 11th December, Wednesday 12th December and Thursday 13th December.
- EIS members in the college were balloted on the proposal to take industrial action, and voted overwhelmingly in favour of the action. Of the 142 lecturers who voted, 127 supported the move to strike action – 89% of those voting.