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The New JNCHES pay negotiations for 2025-26 concluded in May, with UCEA tabling their final offer of 1.4% on all national pay scales. The full and final pay offer from UCEA can be found here.
The EIS ULA Executive Committee requested a consultative ballot be held over the summer, asking members if they wished to accept or reject the offer and whether they would be willing to take strike action if the offer was rejected.
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The ballot closed on Friday 15th August, with members overwhelmingly rejecting the offer and supporting a call for strike action. All four other TUs, who are part of the New JNCHES bargaining mechanism have also rejected the pay offer.
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The Branch at RGU continues to resist compulsory redundancies at the university, with some staff still at risk of being dismissed. After a successful statutory ballot which closed in March, members took five days of strike action across April and May, with well attended pickets and demonstrations taking place at the campus on Garthdee Road. Pickets were attended by the General Secretary Andrea Bradley and other EIS staff as well as Maggie Chapman MSP.
A further strike day is planned for the 11th of September.
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The current mandate is set to expire in late September, the Branch is seeking to extend this by holding another statutory ballot, which opened on Tuesday 26th August and is due to close on Tuesday 23rd September.
Messages of support for the branch can be sent to National Officer Garry Ross at garry.ross@eis.org.uk, who will forward these onto the Branch Secretary at RGU, Chris Yuill.
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University of the West of Scotland
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In May, the University of the West of Scotland announced that it would be required to make 75.2FTE of academic and academic-related staff redundant and started the collective consultation process for this in June.
The Branch, who had withdrawn from the Organisational Change Project in March due to lack of transparency and adequate sharing of information by the University, had already lodged a dispute, seeking a no compulsory redundancy guarantee from management.
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Unfortunately, the University have failed to engage in the dispute process, resulting in the branch holding a consultative and then statutory ballot of members to seeking a mandate for strike action.
The Branch successfully achieved a mandate for strike action in July and have planned a series of strike dates across September and October.
Messages of support for the branch can be sent to National Officer Garry Ross at garry.ross@eis.org.uk, who will forward these onto the Branch Secretary at UWS, Katie Clark.
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Members at SRUC continue to seek a resolution to their dispute with the University on the outstanding 2024-25 pay uplift. The University is offering staff 2% for 2024-25, 0.5% below what HE staff across the sector had imposed on them late last year. After several meetings seeking an improvement on the offer and the EIS proposing the consideration of a 2-year deal, given that members are now within the 2025-26 pay window, there has been no movement from SRUC management.
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The Branch at SRUC is holding a consultative ballot with their members on whether to accept or reject the offer, with the Branch recommending reject to its members.
Members are also in dispute over the pay and grading exercise which management at SRUC were expected to have concluded in April 2024. At the moment, many members at the University are on a salary which is well below their colleagues in both the Higher and Further Education sectors. The Branch is considering their next step in pursuit of resolving the dispute, with a satisfactory conclusion to the exercise being the only acceptable resolution.
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Scotland Demands Better March - 25th October 2025
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The EIS, other trade unions, the STUC, anti-poverty organisations and civic organisations will march in Edinburgh, starting at the Scottish Parliament, on the 25th October as part of the Scotland Demands Better campaign. The campaign “demands better” from all politicians for the people of Scotland.
The EIS is currently making arrangements to join the march.
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Local Associations and FE and HE Branches have been asked to make arrangements to transport members to the march, and we encourage as many EIS members as possible to march on 25th October. More details to follow.
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The EIS supports and trains members to become local representatives within their workplace. Training on offer also includes Health and Safety, Learning Reps and Equality Reps.
The EIS works with college lecturers to deliver TUC accredited Reps’ training.
Information on the EIS courses available to our members is on our website.
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The TUC also offers courses across the academic year to Reps and members. Members who wish to register their interest in any of the available EIS or TUC courses should contact their Branch Secretary in the first instance or contact Sonia Leal (sleal@eis.org.uk).
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Branches without EIS ULA Reps or Office Bearers
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If you are at a university which does not currently have an EIS ULA Rep or Office Bearers (Branch Secretary and Branch Convener), please seek to organise as a branch and to elect these positions. By doing so, you and your colleagues will be better positioned to help and support each other at your university and contribute to the work of the EIS ULA nationally. Please contact your EIS Organiser.
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