Created on: 29 Mar 2023 | Last modified: 25 Jun 2026
To date, no lecturer has been served Notice of compulsory redundancy despite management seeking to make the compulsory redundancies by 18th June 2023. More information will be updated shortly.
On 5th September we begin the next phase of continuous local strike action over the ongoing disputes and redundancies at City of Glasgow College. Our Principal, Paul Little, has on numerous occasions mistakenly conflated local and national industrial action, arguing that the local disputes are a misguided reaction to public sector cuts.
Our employer is one of many within the FE sector in Scotland facing public sector cuts but what makes our employer exceptional is the substantial financial deficit that preceded the 10% cut to SFC funding in April 2023. In September 2022 there was a £7.2m deficit which the college planned to address through £4m in cuts.
By January 2023 when the Voluntary Severance scheme was ongoing, the deficit grew to £8.2m with a planned £4m in cuts and by March, despite the projected loss of 75 FTE roles, £6m of cuts were still planned despite being told VS and other cuts ‘saved’ £6m.
These cuts are based upon a projected 10% pay increase for lecturers across 2 years which has not yet been agreed by Colleges Scotland and certainly has not been implemented!
During the last academic year two finance directors resigned from the college, with the last one leaving after only one day in his promoted post. The College's financial position is not only contingent upon public sector funding but also on internal spending decisions and priorities. College spending has been documented and publicised, mainly through information gained from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests but also from public records.
We know that the College has spent millions on vanity projects, PR, lobbying, accreditation schemes, international travel and failed commercial projects. During the recent financial crisis and amid the plans for 100 compulsory redundancies the College spent over £540,000 on a commercial project with Saudi Arabia of which a financial return is uncertain.
This is only one of many examples of the way that the College prioritises commercial projects over the core provision of further education. Cuts to core provision run in tandem with spending on commercial projects and this is what is termed ‘rightsizing’ the College, which appears to be a thinly disguised code word for privatisation. The College already has a private subsidiary company City of Glasgow International Ltd which is currently active and trading and it is easy to imagine a dark future where further education is removed from public sector and the security of national bargaining.
To bring this back to the Principal’s misguided notion that we are in a local dispute over national public sector cuts: one of the main reasons for the unresolved disputes over redundancies, cuts to teaching time, cuts to courses and learning support is the toxic management culture which prevents meaningful engagement with the workforce via the recognised trade unions.
In June 2022 EIS published the findings of the EIS-FELA City of Glasgow College Workplace Culture Survey which showed that:
Less than 20% of members thought the college was committed to Fair Work practices
76% said they were dissatisfied with the culture in the workplace
Over 76% believe there is an authoritarian leadership style
Around 60% said they had experienced or are aware of bullying (or other unfair treatment) in the workplace
62% said they do not feel respected or valued as a lecturer within the college
College management were given the survey findings and asked for a response at every Local Negotiating Committee (LNC) meeting last year, but no response was given. It becomes incredibly easy to dismiss and ignore problems among the workforce when there is no infrastructure to support positive industrial relations.
So at LNC meetings last year FELA reps asked for the establishment of a Fair Work working group because the College should be committed to the principles of Fair Work which ensures ‘effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect; that balances the rights and responsibilities of employers and workers and that can generate benefits for individuals, organisations and society.’ As a requirement of SFC funding, the college should have a statement on Fair Work developed in agreement with recognised trade unions.
To date, no statement exists and there has been no engagement with the EIS-FELA branch on developing a statement on Fair Work. The reason our branch is in dispute every year is because of the UnFair Work at City of Glasgow College, fostered by senior management.
Nobody has been given Notice of compulsory redundancy to date, despite senior management’s assurances that all Notices would be served by 18th June 2023. Through constantly raising issues at collective ‘consultation’ meetings and individual redundancy consultation meetings, EIS-FELA reps have managed to ensure nobody is being made compulsorily redundant without ensuring senior management have to follow a semblance of due process.
The process, nonetheless, leaves much to be desired and reps will continue raising issues and keeping evidence of potential breaches in legislation, policy and procedures incase of future unfair dismissal cases.
Senior management are agitated throughout this process. Since May they have also lost three senior HR managers as well as various officers and advisors. Senior management have had to answer press questions, Freedom of Information requests, questions from politicians, and from other bodies such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Continuing with the industrial action in the form of strike action as well as ASOS has been key to ensuring the College management know this isn’t a side-issue or pet peeve of EIS-FELA reps and those facing redundancy.
You have shown that strike action has been consistent and maintained for five weeks prior to summer. That is no easy ask. Ensuring picket lines outside of the College on every single one of those days was crucial to keeping the dispute alive.
We need to keep going.
Continuing industrial action is vital to keeping the political and press attention on this dispute. We cannot continue as lecturers in this College if the toxic environment endures. This is a key moment for EIS-FELA members at City of Glasgow College because the alternative is more cuts, privatisation, more bullying and less teaching time.
We need to make senior management understand that we are seeking a Fair Work resolution to this dispute which also makes industrial relations much less pernicious for the future. We are seeking an overhaul of industrial relations culture which allows us meaningful consultation and negotiation going forward, including access to key information prior to negotiations (as is trade union reps’ right under the legislation).
We want to save members’ jobs, ensure a fair and sustainable workload which doesn’t harm students’ education, put learning support lecturers at the heart of our work, and ensure there is a shift to positive industrial relations going forward.