A pay deal has finally been reached in the Further Education sector, following a long dispute and a major programme of industrial action. Here, the SEJ looks back at some of the key events in the dispute, which finally saw college lecturers awarded a pay rise after two years of waiting.
ASOS puts the pressure on
National industrial action, in pursuit of an overdue pay settlement for lecturers, commenced more than a year ago. The initial industrial action was in the form of Action Short of Strike (ASOS), consisting of a withdrawal of goodwill and a boycott of the entry of student results into college systems.
While the dispute would subsequently escalate to include national, rolling and targeted strike action, the ASOS continued throughout the dispute and was a key component in eventually drawing an improved offer from college employers, following an intervention from the Scottish Government.
Escalation to strike action
The EIS gave notice to all of Scotland’s Further Education colleges of a programme of sustained strike action in the long running dispute over pay.
This marked an escalation in the pay dispute, following the previous months where members of EIS-FELA engaged in action short of strike, comprising a resulting boycott and work to contract.
College lecturers should have received a pay uplift at the beginning of September 2022 and following over a year of protracted negotiations, College Employers Scotland stated that their ‘full and final’ pay offer would have to be financed through significant job losses across the college sector. Negotiators from EIS-FELA have made clear that sacrificing jobs for fair pay was completely unacceptable.
Rolling action
Scotland’s college lecturers undertook a rolling programme of strike action in pursuit of a fair pay award and job security.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley said, “College lecturers deserve so much more from their employers and the Scottish Government. Aside from the real-world impact of job losses on individuals and their families, each lecturing job lost is a cut to course provision and opportunities for students.”
Ms Bradley added, “This simply should not be happening anywhere in Scotland’s public sector and the Scottish Government can no longer skulk in the background sitting on its hands.”
Deeming rears its ugly head
The EIS hit out at the threats issued by college employers towards EIS-FELA members who were engaged in a programme of legitimate, legal industrial action.
Despite college lecturers having achieved a legitimate mandate to take industrial action short of strike (ASOS) in the form of a working to contract and withholding of results, colleges began to threaten staff with 100% pay deductions in a blatant attempt to stop workers from taking part in industrial action.
Lecturers were facing intimidatory behaviour from college employers who were seeking to undermine the right to take industrial action by threatening to withhold wages despite the ASOS only affecting a small part of lecturers’ work.
EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley said, “It is utterly shameful that public sector employers such as colleges who are in receipt of Scottish Government funds and who claim to abide by Fair Work principles, would seek to threaten EIS-FELA members in this way.”
“Any employer who seeks to punish EIS-FELA members for exercising their legitimate right to carry out industrial action will feel the full force of the EIS and wider trade union movement response.”
Targeted strikes take place
Lecturers in three Scottish colleges took targeted strike action, in colleges based in the constituencies of key Scottish Government decision makers.
The action took place at Glasgow Clyde College, Fife College and Dundee & Angus College, which sat within the constituency areas of the then First Minister, Cabinet Secretary for Education, and Minister for Further Education.
EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “This crisis can no longer be ignored by the Scottish Government and its share of the responsibility can no longer be ignored or denied.”
“We believe it imperative that the First Minister now intervene to ensure that public sector jobs are fully protected within the FE sector and that lecturers (and support staff colleagues) receive a satisfactory pay award.”
‘Full and final’ offer received – ballot of EIS-FELA members opens
The EIS opened a consultative ballot on a revised ‘full and final’ pay offer from college employers.
The improved offer was discussed at a special meeting of the EIS-FELA Executive Committee. Following discussion, it was agreed to recommend acceptance of the offer to members.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “The gains which have been achieved in this offer have been hard-won, and it is of great credit to our members that they have taken this stand and fought hard to secure this improved offer from colleges.”
“The intervention of the Scottish Government, and their commitment of an additional £4.5M in funding, was key to the improvements in this offer.”
Ms Bradley continued, “In addition to the significant increase in the value of the offer in Year 4 and the assurance in relation to no compulsory redundancies as a result of this deal, it will also compel all colleges who have ‘deemed’ pay from lecturers taking Action Short of Strike to repay that money to our members.”
“This clearly highlights the unacceptable nature of the process of deeming – an anti-trade union tactic which has absolutely no place in our public sector or in any civilised society that respects and values the essential role that trade unions play in ensuring that our workplaces are fair.”
Members vote overwhelmingly in favour of final pay offer
The EIS announced that its members in the EIS-FELA had voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting an improved pay offer from college employers.
95% of lecturers voting in the ballot voted in favour of accepting the improved offer, with 5% voting to reject. Turnout in the ballot was 84%.
Commenting on the ballot result, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “This offer delivers pay certainty and stability for our members for this year and next, together with backdated pay settlements for the past two years.”
“Additionally, there is an obligation on college employers to repay any salary that was ‘deemed’, from lecturers engaged in action short of strike during this dispute. The agreement also includes assurances in relation to no compulsory redundancies as a result of this deal.”
Ms Bradley continued, “This was a very difficult campaign, with EIS-FELA members forced to engage in a long-running programme of industrial action to secure a fair pay settlement from college employers and assurance that this will not come at the cost of jobs.”
“It is by standing together, through their union, that our members have achieved success in the campaign for a fair pay settlement from college employers. This dispute really did not have to go on for as long as it did, as colleges could have shown far more urgency in delivering a fair offer and the Scottish Government could have stepped in earlier to facilitate an improved settlement with the injection of additional funding, and, importantly, taking a firm stance against deeming.”
“The EIS expects employers to take urgent action to deliver their parts of the agreement, including to ensure that all money withheld via ‘deeming’ of lecturers’ salaries is repaid to our members as soon as possible.”
Deal is formally ratified
EIS-FELA and college employers formally ratified the four-year pay award for lecturers.
The agreement will deliver a £5,000 consolidated pay rise across the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, as well as a further increase of 4.14% in 2025/26.
EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “Scotland’s FE lecturers only ever wanted a fair pay settlement that took account of recent huge increases in the cost of living, and which properly values the essential work that they do in supporting learners in colleges across Scotland.”
“While this took far longer than hoped, lecturers have clearly indicated that they believe we now have a pay settlement which meets both of these objectives.”
“With the ratification of this pay award, the dispute is now formally concluded, and lecturers can return to working as normal in support of students.”