Created on: 02 May 2023
College lecturers, in all of Scotland’s 26 Further Education colleges, have begun a campaign of industrial action in pursuit of a fair pay award.
Members of the EIS-FELA will engage in action short of strike (ASOS) consisting of a resulting boycott and work to rule.
In the case of the resulting boycott, although student assessments will be marked, these marks will not be entered into college recording systems. The work to rule aspect of ASOS will mean that college lecturers no longer carry out duties beyond what is stated in their contract, including hours of work.
If the action short of strike fails to produce a fair pay award, the EIS-FELA will consider escalating industrial action to include strike action to coincide with the new academic year in August.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley, said, “College lecturers should have received a pay award in September 2022, and the protracted and frustrating nature of pay negotiations has now resulted in the EIS-FELA engaging in action short of strike from today. College leaders and the Scottish Government now only have a short window of opportunity to avoid significant disruption that would mean students not being able to progress due to assessment results not being entered into college systems.
"Despite the months of warnings that this industrial action would be undertaken, college employers have still failed to produce a pay offer that is acceptable amidst a cost-of-living crisis and the Scottish Government has failed to pay any attention to this dispute.”
EIS-FELA President, Anne Marie Harley commented, “College lecturers deserve a fair pay award in line with other public sector workers. They also deserve not be threatened with the prospect of redundancies in order to finance such an award. College leaders must now call publicly for increased funding for Scotland’s FE sector in the way that EIS-FELA have been doing since last year.
"Passing on cuts is a dereliction of leadership. The Scottish Government must also step up and intervene to ensure that college lecturers receive fair pay and the FE sector receives adequate levels of funding. The managed decline of Scotland’s colleges must end.”