Colleges across Scotland could be hit by strikes after lecturers voted to walk out in their pursuit of a fair pay rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the EIS-Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA), who are lecturers across the nation’s 26 further education colleges\u00a0are looking for an uplift in excess of the 2 percent they were offered in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a turnout of 53%, with 78% voting in favour of strike action and 94% backing action short of a strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The union has decided to adopt action short of a strike in the form of withholding student results from college systems and a withdrawal of goodwill (with college lecturers no longer carrying out duties beyond contractual requirements).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dispute will be escalated to strike action at the start of the new academic year if no acceptable pay offer is forthcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley, said: \u201cThe Scottish Government and college leaders must heed the warning of this statutory ballot and commit to meaningful negotiations to settle this pay dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The current pay offer is 10% less than the current rate of inflation and is thus a huge real-terms pay cut. This group of public sector workers deserve better and need to be treated fairly and equitably by College Employers Scotland, with Scottish Government support if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting, EIS-FELA President, Anne-Marie Harley said: \u201cIt is bitterly disappointing that college lecturers are set to take industrial action for the eighth time in nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For too long, the intransigence of college employers has plunged the Further Education sector into the disruption caused by industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Scottish Government too cannot wash its hands of this situation when it has intervened across other parts of the public sector to settle pay disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whilst we have this industrial action mandate, we would prefer to negotiate a fair pay deal for college lecturers without the need for sustained industrial action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colleges across Scotland could be hit by strikes after lecturers voted to walk out in their pursuit of a fair pay rise. Members of the EIS-Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA), who are lecturers across the nation’s 26 further education colleges\u00a0are looking for an uplift in excess of the 2 percent they were offered in December.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scottish-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n