Dumfries and Galloway College staff are being balloted on taking strike action after an “insulting” pay offer.
The Educational Institute of Scotland Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) is asking members at Scotland’s 26 colleges if they would be willing to strike after employers failed to improve on a two per cent deal which was rejected before Christmas.
The ballot opened on Monday afternoon and runs until April 13 with union members asked to show support for strike action and action short of a strike and a boycott of entering student results.
EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley, pictured, said: “College lecturers have been forced to take strike action eight times in the last nine years and it is extremely disappointing that they are faced with no other option but to consider striking once again.
“College employers must return to the negotiating table with an offer far above the insulting two per cent offer that has already been rejected by the EIS-FELA negotiators.
“The Scottish Government also has a responsibility to ensure that college lecturers, who are vital public sector workers, are afforded a pay rise that addresses the ongoing cost of living crisis.”
Employers say the union pay claim is unaffordable and colleges face “severe cost pressures”.
Gavin Donoghue, director of College Employers Scotland, said: “It is disappointing that the EIS-FELA has decided to open a statutory ballot for industrial action when there is a negotiation meeting scheduled for next week to discuss their pay claim.
“Colleges in Scotland are proud that lecturers have the best pay, and terms and conditions, of any lecturers across the UK.
“However, the current EIS-FELA pay claim of a £5,000 increase is unaffordable for the college sector as it would increase a lecturer’s starting salary by more than 14 per cent to more than £40,000 a year, at a time when colleges are facing severe cost pressures.
“The current EIS-FELA pay claim would cost colleges an additional £37m a year. But the college sector is facing a flat-cash budget going forward and right now colleges are already using voluntary redundancy schemes to cope with current budget cuts.
“College Employers Scotland continues to speak to government to seek additional funding for staff pay claims, and our offer to work jointly with EIS-FELA remains open.”
