Created on: 26 Mar 2021
1. There are two different strikes or strike ballots at Argyll College. Why is that?
2. How do I vote in the local statutory ballot?
3. Will we get strike pay if there is a mandate for local strike action?
4. Why are we being encouraged to vote Yes in the ballot?
1. There are two different strikes or strike ballots at Argyll College. Why is that?
There is a local statutory ballot for Argyll College opening on Friday 26th March. This is for the local compulsory redundancies dispute which is separate from the national dispute on instructor assessors.
This ballot is open from Friday 26th March until Thursday 15th April.
The National Instructor Assessor dispute is ongoing. The first day of national strike action for this dispute was Thursday 25th March. Other days of national strike action are:
Wednesday 31st March and Thursday 1st April
Easter break
Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st of April
Tuesday 27th, Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th of April
Tuesday 4th, Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th of May
Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th of May
This means that EIS-FELA members at Argyll College are on strike those days unless the national dispute is resolved. You can get more information on the national strike here.
2. How do I vote in the local statutory ballot?
You will receive a ballot paper in the post to the home address you registered with the EIS. It will be marked ‘Civica’.
You should fill this in and post it back to the address given by Tuesday 13th April to ensure it arrives on time.
Please make sure your home address is correct by logging on to the members’ section of the EIS website.
If you do not receive a ballot paper by Tuesday 30th March, please contact ballot@eis.org.uk
3. Will we get strike pay if there is a mandate for local strike action?
A EIS strike fund is available for members after the first day of local strike action, but not national action. Strike pay is then paid at a 50% rate for subsequent strike days.
In addition, any EIS member who has been in membership for a year may apply to the EIS Hardship Fund if they are disproportionately hit by the strike action. In extreme cases, members may also apply to the EIS Benevolent Fund. https://www.eis.org.uk/Member-Support/Benevolent
4. Why are we being encouraged to vote Yes in the ballot?
The EIS Branch at Argyll College believes that the College have not genuinely sought to avoid compulsory redundancies in terms of their redundancy policy; that the College are not bench-marking against the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy and commitment to no compulsory redundancies whilst in receipt of majority public funding from the Scottish Funding Council; that the College have breached the STUC and Scottish Government’s Fair Work Statement and commitment to no COVID-related detriment for staff; and that the College have not entered into meaningful negotiations on redundancy pay for impacted staff.
The proposed industrial action is in pursuit of this dispute. The objective of the proposed industrial action is to reverse the college’s decision on instigating compulsory redundancies by either withdrawing the redundancy notices or re-instating the lecturers and, furthermore, to obtain a no compulsory redundancy policy.
If there is a mandate for local strike action, we would urge you to participate in collective industrial action – as decided by a statutory ballot of the membership. We hope that no member goes to work as a strike-breakers because it weakens the strike in pursuit of winning this dispute, and weakens the collective nature of trade union membership.
The more effective any strike action, the more quickly the dispute will be resolved in the interests of EIS members and our students.