The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Lecturers strike over national pay demands
LAST RESORT: Union claims action comes after lack of progress in talks
College lecturers have gone on strike across Scotland in a long-running dispute over pay.
The EIS trade union said its members are taking the action as a last resort following the failure of management to offer a fair deal and create national pay scales for lecturers.
Picket lines were in operation from 7am yesterday for the one-day strike, but the walkouts are scheduled to continue until the summer and will escalate to two and then three days per week if no resolution is reached.
A total of 32 days of industrial action is planned.
College staff have been offered a wage rise of 1% but the union wants action to tackle the wide variation in pay across the sector.
John Kelly, president of the EIS Further Education Lecturers’ Association, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “This dispute is about equal pay. What that means is that at colleges across Scotland we find huge differentials between payments to lecturers, despite the fact they do the same job.
“It’s a product of the last 23 years of local bargaining. However, back in 2011 the Scottish Government committed itself to a national set of terms and conditions.
“It was welcomed by virtually all the mainstream political parties. Two years ago we went into negotiations with Colleges Scotland to try to achieve this national set of terms and conditions. We have been negotiating for two years now and, to date, we have had no progress at all.”
The EIS said 88% of college members who voted in a ballot backed industrial action.
Two days of action are planned next week and the week beginning April 18.
Thereafter, staff will strike for three days – Tuesday to Thursday – each week until June 23.
A strike support fund is being established to support members whose salaries will be disproportionally affected by the strike.
we have been negotiating for two years now and... we have had no progress at all