Created on: 01 Jul 2024
Lecturers at two Scottish Further Education Colleges have voted in favour of strike action in protest at college employers ‘deeming’ (i.e. withholding) pay from lecturers engaged in industrial Action Short of Strike (ASoS).
Lecturers at Ayrshire College and South Lanarkshire College were balloted by the EIS, following colleges managements’ decision to withhold pay from lecturers engaged in ASoS. The result was a powerful vote in favour of strike action in protest at the action by the colleges, and in order to recover salaries withheld by deeming.
At Ayrshire College, 85% of lecturers voting in the ballot backed the move to strike action as a response to the college’s aggressive move to deem pay over ASoS.
At South Lanarkshire College, 87% of lecturers who took part in the ballot voted in favour of a move to industrial action in response to the college plan to deem lecturers’ pay. The EIS understands that South Lanarkshire College is now no longer planning to ‘deem’ lecturers.
Commenting, a spokesperson for the EIS-Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA), said: “The vindictive practice of withholding, or ‘deeming’, up to 100% of pay from lecturers engaged in a legal programme of action short of strike is wholly unacceptable and will be fought fiercely by the EIS. This aggressive tactic from management has no place in the Scottish public sector, and has served only to further enflame the current long-running national dispute over pay and jobs in Scotland’s FE colleges.”
The spokesperson added, “In overwhelmingly backing strike action in these ballots, our members have clearly demonstrated that they will not be cowed into submission by the bullying tactics of senior college managers who seem more interested in punishing lecturers than working to find a resolution to this long-running dispute. Lecturers simply want a fair pay settlement to properly remunerate them for the vital work that they do supporting students and the communities which our colleges serve.”
The EIS has now written to both colleges to formally inform them of the ballot results. Further information on future days of strike action will be communicated in due course.