Union and employers look to Government for better college funding

Now, both sides are waiting for the results of an EIS-FELA strike ballot which will determine the next phase of negotiations.

If successful, it could mean lecture strikes and a new results boycott. This will put more pressure on delegates to find a quick resolution before students are once again facing the consequences.

The national negotiating committee for colleges is set up to bring together representatives from the employer and employee sides.

But each time union and employer representatives meet, they feel there is missing seat at the table: one for the Scottish Government.

The government has no obligation to take part in negotiations during pay disputes.

But both sides have said that the government has a vested interest in breaking with convention and taking a more active role in resolving this conflict. The college sector is critical to many government agenda pieces.

And even if the government is not formally part of the bargaining process, it takes the first de facto step in every negotiation when it sets the sector’s budget.

This determines how much employers must work with and what percentage of the overall budget will go towards staff pay.

According to recent audit reports, that percentage is roughly 70%. And it’s likely to increase to a level that could mean colleges won’t be able to properly function without an increase in funding.

But those same audit reports echo what the employers and unions are arguing: Colleges are important to their communities and the government has a vested interest in keeping them afloat.

Colleges anchor their communities

Colleges provide a wide range of services that go beyond education, as the Audit Scotland 2023 report on colleges makes clear.

“Scotland’s colleges offer academic and vocational courses to develop people’s skills and knowledge for work, continued study or general interest.

“The courses that college students undertake contribute not only to their own development but also to Scotland’s sustainable economic growth. Colleges are valuable hubs whose facilities may also be used for local community purposes, including as meeting spaces and sports venues.”

But according to Gavin Donoghue, director of College Employers Scotland, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Colleges serve as “anchor institutions” for students and communities, he said.

“It could be young people that preferred to go to college rather than senior phase in high school. It could be people who want to go to college first before taking on a university-level course.

“It could be people who want to come back into the workforce after their time out of the workforce, or who want to retrain and reskill in a different role.

“College students come from all different walks of life and all different backgrounds.”

Read more: New year, same fight for college sector

Colleges are also critical resources for some of Scotland’s most deprived areas. They provide a lifeline between school, further education and future employment for students of all ages who are otherwise at risk of slipping through the cracks in the education system.

In 2022, 25.5% of all school leavers went on to further education at one of Scotland’s colleges, according to government statistics. But when the statistics are narrowed down to just students from the most deprived areas, that number increases to 35.6%.

These statistics exclude students who are attending college for higher education courses, meaning the total service rate for colleges is higher still.

Serving the most vulnerable

Mr Donoghue said that those numbers represent students who will be vital to Scotland’s economy.

Colleges teach many of the skills that will drive the green skills revolution, he said, and help push the country’s climate agenda.

Read more: Colleges must be enabled to keep climate responsibilities top of the agenda

To see these goals through, the college sector needs a rebuild, he said. In part, that means better funding and support from the government.

But it also means putting an end to the cycle of constant disputes and restoring a sense of partnership between employers and employees.

“What we hear is that at a local level there are often very good relationships between college management and the local trade union reps.

“But that doesn't scale up to the national level where we've obviously had industrial action over a number of years.”

When union members launched a resulting boycott last year, it created a backlog that threatened thousands of students’ progression. Mr Donoghue praised the work of staff and management alike in pulling together in the aftermath so that students weren’t the ones to suffer.

“Colleges and college management essentially mitigated the effect of the resulting boycott through a lot of hard work and a lot of staff working very hard over the summer to minimise the impact of that.”

‘We do have a common concern’

Stuart Brown, the Educational Institute of Scotland’s further education officer, agreed that there is plenty of room for improving trade relations within the sector.

“This constant disruption for college students is as much the employers' fault as ours because we are continually pushed into this position.

“This is the way business has been done, it’s become the norm and it needs to stop. Nothing is going to get better until then.”

There’s nothing romantic about striking or boycotting, he added. Lecturers want to be in the classroom, not on the picket line.

Read more: Union prepares next stage in college pay dispute

More funding from the Scottish Government could ease the overall pressure on colleges and bring employers to the table more readily.

If there is to be a fight, Mr Brown said, employers and employees could choose to fight together.

“We do have a common issue, and a common concern and a common crisis of chronic underfunding.

“At times we’ve met with the government jointly with College Employers Scotland. But it needs to be more than this.

“We need to be standing side by side publicly.”

Mr Donoghue agreed. He commended EIS-FELA for approaching the government alongside CES last year and said that he hopes unions representing support staff will also join soon.

“We remain committed to working with the trade unions on speaking to government so that the sector speaks with one voice to ensure colleges continue delivering the world-class learning experience that students deserve.”

Grow the pot, not the share

Just like colleges and college staff, the Scottish Government, local authorities and city councils are all struggling financially.

In such a climate, it would be easy to characterise calls for a pay raise as greedy or argue that staff are asking for more than their fair share of public money.

Mr Brown doesn’t believe this is the case.

He doesn’t doubt that there are cost pressures everywhere. But he does doubt that the government is doing everything it can to help.

“One thing I’ll never accept is that there’s no money. There’s plenty of money in the world. The Scottish Government has plenty of powers available in order to get more money into the public coffers.

“It’s about ensuring that public sectors are funded through taxation and progressive taxation in a way that we can get the benefit of them. “

“If the Scottish Government is serious about moving forward economically, and socially, then colleges need to be at the forefront.”

Government response

When asked about the potential for more funding to help colleges settle the pay dispute, a Scottish Government spokesman left the resolution up to staff and employers.

“While operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are the responsibility of individual colleges, the Scottish Government remains concerned by the impact this current action is having on students.

“We expect employers and trade unions to make every effort to reach a settlement which is both fair and affordable with a view of bringing this industrial action to a close."

He added that the government’s budget is itself impacted by decisions made in Westminster.

“The UK Government did not inflation-proof its capital budget, which has resulted in nearly a 10% real-terms cut in the Scottish Government’s capital funding over the medium-term between 2023-24 and 2027-28.

“Despite Scotland facing this challenging fiscal position, we have protected capital spending on colleges, recognising the vital work and support they provide to the economy and local communities.”

While capital funding can be put towards campus maintenance and other resources, it doesn’t directly fund staff pay.

The government did not respond directly to a request for comment from Minister for Higher and Further Education Graeme Dey.

More eyes on Scotland’s colleges

Although the government controls the purse strings and it’s ultimately up to staff and employer representatives to cut a deal, there is a part to play for the public in repairing Scotland’s colleges.

As Mr Brown bluntly stated, Scotland needs to care more about the college sector.

“Colleges need more airtime.

“If this sort of crisis that colleges are currently in was happening in other parts of the education system, it would be publicised a lot more widely. They matter to communities in Scotland, some of which have been totally forgotten.”