Lecturers vote to take strike action overs fears to status of new college jobs

COLLEGE lecturers in Scotland have voted in favour of strike action over fears further education jobs are being replaced with lower-paid posts.

The ballot was arranged by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), with 92 per cent of Further Education Lecturers’ Association (FELA) members voting in favour of the action on a turnout of 60%.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said any cuts in the middle of the pandemic “must be stopped”.

He said: “Our members will not accept the continuing threat from colleges to remove lecturing jobs and replace them with lower qualified, and more poorly paid, posts.

“The EIS is clear that colleges seeking to cut lecturing jobs in this way, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, is simply unacceptable and must be stopped.”

A spokeswoman for Colleges Scotland said: “The EIS-FELA has accepted that there is no national plan to replace lecturers with tutor/ assessor/instructor roles, nor any other support staff roles, yet have still pushed forward with the ballot and the threat of industrial action.

“Tutor/assessor/instructor roles are not new to the college sector, they have been in place within colleges across Scotland for a considerable number of years.

Different sectors and professionals also have a range of support staff roles that are required, such as teachers and classroom assistants, solicitors and para-legals, nurses and nursing assistants.”

She added: “We are continuing talks with the EIS-FELA, and have agreed to meet again next week.”