Our education is at risk because of strike

Students fear they won’t graduate as row rumbles on

Paisley students have voiced fears the lecturers’ strike will prevent them from graduating.

Undergraduates at West College Scotland have been hit hard by a series of one-day strikes, with another shutdown taking place on Tuesday, May 9.

NC Beauty Therapy student Kayleigh McNaughton, 27, told how the industrial action by the EIS-FELA members could leave students unable to pass their course.

Kayleigh, from Gallowhill, added the walk-out could also stop students from resitting the course in the next academic term as they wouldn’t be eligible for funding.

She said: “This isn’t just about missed assessments, it is affecting our entire course work. This means we are not able to complete our final block of work.

“Many of us on this course, NC Beauty and Therapy, are wanting to pass out in summer and progress to the HNC course in the next term.

“But these strikes are affecting everything. It also means we cannot resit the course work next year because we would not get funding to repeat the course.”

Kayleigh, who is among 18 NC Beauty and Therapy students, said hundreds of students are affected by the walk-outs.

However she refused to put the blame on lecturers, and laid the fault at management’s door.

She added: “This is down to management not sorting this out with lecturers.

“They are not coming to the table and finding a compromise, even though this has been going on for more than a year.”

Trade unions EIS- FELA have been locked in a bruising battle with employers over pay, which has led to a series of one-day strikes which began on Thursday, April 27 and extends to May 11.

EIS-FELA National President, John Kelly, said the union was forced into taking action because bosses refused “to honour a deal they voluntarily signed up for 13 months ago.”

He said: “We have been patient and reasonable, however it is totally unacceptable that they enter into an agreement which is in line with Scottish Government policy, and then renege on that agreement.”

A spokesman for West College Scotland said management cannot broker a local deal because it is a national dispute, and that talks between EIS-FELA and employers are continuing.

He said: “West College Scotland is disappointed that the EIS has chosen this course of action at this important time for our students.

“However, this is a sector- wide dispute about pay, terms and conditions which has to be resolved at a national level.

“We are keeping the Paisley campus open in order to facilitate independent study for those students who wish to come in on strike days. The college is doing everything it can to minimise disruption to our students and to assure them about assessments and exams.”

This isn’t just about missed assessments, it is affecting the entire course work