The minister for colleges has called for employers to drop their threats to withhold pay from lecturers while asking that the lecturers’ union abandon plans for another results boycott.

Minister for Higher Education and Further Education Graeme Dey said this would build on recent shows of good faith from both sides of the ongoing industrial dispute and contribute to what he called a much-needed “culture reset” for college negotiations.

Due to an ongoing pay dispute, the lecturers’ union EIS-FELA previously announced plans to carry out a results boycott this term. In this boycott, lecturers will mark student work but refuse to enter it into official systems as part of industrial action short of strike.

In response, many college employers have said they will withhold some or all pay from lecturers who participate in the boycott, a tactic known as “deeming.”

But Mr Dey on Thursday delivered a statement to the Scottish Parliament calling for both sides to abandon these tactics and move forward to conclude the “industrial strife that has dogged the sector for the past ten years.”

Read more: What happened when we tried to shine a light on the state of Scotland's colleges?

“Do any of us want to see students further impacted in this way, or staff losing pay? Can we not find a way to suspend that element of the action and take away the threat of deeming to allow progress in settling the dispute?

 “Colleges across Scotland make an immeasurable contribution to their communities, our economy and our nation as a whole. They do good work.

“Regionalisation and the introduction of national bargaining has brought some positive change for many. And yet the relationship between employers and unions, particularly in some localities, has become fractious to the point where when many of us think of colleges, sadly, we think of industrial action.”

Mr Dey’s comments came after college management and trade unions resumed talks this week.

The National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC) for colleges met on Wednesday. It will meet again on Friday to discuss the ongoing dispute between EIS-FELA and employers, represented in negotiations by College Employers Scotland (CES).

EIS-FELA representatives have not accepted the employers’ most recent three-year, £5,000 pay rise, although the union has tabled a new four-year claim being negotiated.

Support staff unions are considering accepting CES's current three-year offer. Unions GMB and Unite have already accepted the offer, and Unison, the largest union representing support staff, recently called off planned strike action so members could consider it.

Mr Dey credited EIS-FELA with moving talks forward and called on the management side to continue talks and pave the way to a period of peace so that colleges can begin addressing the “broken negotiating mechanism” without the distraction of the industrial dispute.

“We are still a way off from seeing an agreement reach for the lecturers.

“But I welcome the meaningful dialogue which has taken place between both sides since this new claim was tabled and credit where it’s due to EIS-FELA for initialising this.

“I have and continue to encourage the management side to see the move by unions as an opportunity to bring peace to the sector until at least the academic year 25/26, and provide that chance to fix the broken negotiating mechanism.”

Mr Dey said that “fairness and affordability” are essential while acknowledging the funding gap between what colleges have received and what they would need to meet inflation, which The Herald reported to be at almost half a billion pounds.

Read more: 'Chronic underfunding' – Colleges face budget gap of nearly half a billion pounds

Following his statement, Mr Dey was questioned by members about the government’s commitment to finding a resolution and what action is available.

He reiterated previous statements that the financial pressures on the Scottish Government have made the most recent budget “the most challenging since devolution,” adding that any further funding for colleges would need to come from elsewhere in education or another portfolio.

As part of this response, he again suggested that the removal of a planned £26 million for colleges from the 2023/24 budget was a direct consequence of the pay deal awarded to teachers in March 2023 to end a long-running national dispute.

Pam Duncan-Glancy, Scottish Labour spokesperson for education, said that if the Scottish Government’s decisions to redeploy college funding has contributed to the current crisis of finances and industrial relations, then it should be up to the government to help resolve the situation.

“He calls the situation ‘topical for a decade.' I’d say for students and staff, it’s been torment for a decade. The minister is right to make mention of the vastly different financial backdrops, but what hasn’t changed in that time is the government or their unwillingness to act.”

Mr Dey said that recent talks from both sides have been constructive and presented an opportunity to move negotiations along in his role as minister.

Read more: Can reforms to national bargaining end a decade of dispute?

Regarding government and ministerial involvement, Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Liam Kerr asked how Mr Dey would like to see trade unions and employers reform national bargaining, especially amid calls for an independent chair for the NJNC.

“[Mr Dey] refers to national bargaining and tells us that we’ve seen industrial action in nine out of the last ten years, but that’s in a context in which national bargaining has been in place for eight of those years?

“Is it time for a review of national bargaining and whether it requires to be improved or altered?”

Mr Dey said that, following a 2022 ‘Lessons Learned’ report from Strathesk Resolutions, there have been discussions of creating an independent chair position, but that there isn’t a full agreement on both sides for how this should take shape or if it is the right approach.

“There’s a respectful divergence of views on the merits or necessity for having an independent chair.

"There is, though, a willingness to explore the introduction of a facilitating role.”