Scotland’s colleges are underfunded, and have been so for years. This has led to reductions in course provision, cuts to lecturing and support staff jobs, and a seemingly annual confrontation over pay and conditions within the Further Education sector.

Scotland’s college lecturers, represented by the Educational Institute of Scotland – Further Education Lecturers’ Association, are currently in the midst of a long-running dispute over pay. Lecturers should have received a cost-of-living pay increase in September 2022 but are still waiting for a fair offer from college employers – more than a year and a half later.

This has come during the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory, with soaring inflation which reached a peak of over 14% on the RPI index shortly after the lecturers’ pay settlement was due to be paid.

An inferior opening offer

The first offer from college employers was a 2% salary increase for one year and was put on the table in December 2022. With inflation sitting, that month, at over 13% (RPI), that offer was swiftly rejected.

With no improvement on the offer, EIS-FELA consulted its members on their willingness to potentially take both Action Short of Strike and Strike Action.

EIS-FELA was clear that action short of strike would be taken first and if this failed to produce an offer then strike action would be deployed. This was also made clear to college employers.

Without progress, a statutory ballot for industrial action was conducted by the EIS, in April 2023. A further offer came, later that month, of a 3.5% increase for each year in a two-year deal. College employers stated when this offer was presented that it would result in job losses. With inflation running at over 11% (RPI), and with the potential deal tied to job cuts across the sector, the offer was rejected by lecturers.

Industrial action and FE funding cuts

Action Short of Strike, in the form of a resulting boycott and work to rule, began in May 2023 on the same day that the Scottish Government announced the withdrawal of an additional £26million that had been allocated to the college sector.

The EIS wrote to the Scottish Government calling for an emergency funding package to be implemented for colleges, and wrote to all college principals asking them to join us in this call. To date, there has still been no joint call to the Scottish Government for the delivery of an emergency funding package.

First ‘full and final’ offer

College employers produced a ‘full and final’ offer of £2,000 for year one and £1,500 for year two in early June 2023. Figures from the employers forecasted that this offer would result in “potentially” 400 job losses. EIS-FELA rejected the offer and made clear that it would not accept a pay offer predicated on job losses.

Another ‘full and final’ offer

College employers produced another ‘full and final’ offer, tabled in November 2023, of £2,000 for year one, £1,500 for year two and £1,500 for year three. This offer represented an 11.5% pay increase spread over three years for most lecturing staff in the sector but will be a real-terms pay cut since inflation (RPI) for the period August 2022 – February 2024 is already sitting at 10.4%, with a considerable period of the proposed deal left to go.

It is also less than other groups of public sector workers received over a two-year period (2022/23 and 2023/24) such as the NHS (11.8%), Police Officers (12%), Firefighters (12%) and Teachers (12%). So, not only are lecturers being offered a lower settlement, but it is also spread over a longer period of time – three years rather than two.

Threats of ‘deeming’

the threats of deeming have only served to illustrate the cultural shift required by colleges to become fair work employers

Following a re-ballot of members, following the deployment of the UK government’s anti-trade union laws by college employers, EIS-FELA achieved a fresh mandate to continue industrial action. This renewed mandate saw Action Short of Strike, in the form of a resulting boycott and work to rule, begin in February 2024.

However, the week prior to this legitimate industrial action starting, almost all college employers across the sector issued notices of pay deductions – known as “deeming” – from staff for participating in Action Short of Strike.

EIS-FELA is of the view that this is a clear breach of the Fair Work Framework, to which colleges claim they adhere. The Scottish Government has previously said it wishes to become a leading fair work nation by 2025. As such, the threats of deeming have only served to illustrate the cultural shift required by colleges to become fair work employers.

National strike action

The EIS-FELA attempted to avert Action Short of Strike and strike action but has ultimately been left with no choice. The current pay offer from College Employers Scotland has been resoundingly rejected by EIS-FELA members.

However, instead of attempting to negotiate and find a resolution to the dispute, College Principals have adopted an aggressive, vindictive, and anti-trade union mindset by threatening to deduct 100% pay from lecturing staff for engaging in action short of strike.

This is a clear contradiction to the principles of fair work, a decision which has no place in any workplace where the rights of employees are valued and respected.

The Scottish Government has intervened to ensure other public sector workers have secured appropriate cost-of-living pay increases, so why not college lecturing staff?