Renewed strikes could hit Scotland's colleges after lecturers voted to continue industrial action in a long-running pay dispute.
Members of the EIS-FELA (Education Institute for Scotland - Further Education Lecturers Alliance) union have been in dispute with pay body College Employers Scotland since 2022, which has brought both action short of a strike - including a boycott of results - and rolling strikes.
CES says it has offered an uplift of £5,000 over three years, and that this is £1,500 more than the Scottish Government's public sector pay policy (PPSP).
However, the union states that other public sector workers received pay settlements in 2022/23 and 2023/24 which were above PPSP in a period where there was record inflation and the offer on the table is not as good as given to other public sector workers.
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In an increasingly bitter dispute, some colleges have also engaged in 'deeming' whereby pay is withheld from lecturers taking part in action short of a strike, with some threatening to deduct 100%.
EIS-FELA members voted in favour of strike action at Ayrshire College and South Lanarkshire college earlier this month in response.
Under UK law mandates for industrial action must be renewed every six months, and the union balloted its members to continue.
In the ballot, 71% of those voting supported action short of a strike, and almost 67% supported strike action.
The EIS-FELA executive board opted on Monday to renew the industrial action short of strike action element as soon as possible to continue the resulting boycott in order to leverage pay negotiations.
Strike action could follow.
EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said: “College lecturers have delivered a clear mandate for the continuation of industrial action in support of a fair pay settlement, and this ballot result signifies the collective strength of Scotland’s college lecturers as they continue to fight for fair pay.
“Lecturers have faced increasingly aggressive tactics from employers, including the vindictive threat to ‘deem wages’ (aka deeming) – by withholding of up to 100% of salary from lecturers engaged in a legal programme of action short of strike. This despicable tactic from many college managements has only served to inflame the current situation and increase college lecturers’ determination to ensure the provision of quality Further Education to students of all ages, and particularly to working - class communities.
“With this fresh industrial action mandate now secured, the EIS will press ahead with issuing immediate notice of further ASOS action – including the continuation of the resulting boycott - and it will consider a new programme of strike action in the weeks and months ahead if an acceptable and fair pay offer is not forthcoming.
"We continue to urge the Scottish Government to stand up for college lecturers and help bring this public sector dispute to a resolution, as it has done previously for NHS staff and other public sector workers.”
College Employers Scotland has been contacted for comment.
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