Created on: 31 May 2024
The EIS has responded to the statement made In the Scottish Parliament, by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Graeme Dey in regards to the ongoing national pay dispute involving college lecturers.
In his statement, the Minister conveyed Scottish Government tolerance of Scottish colleges in their use of deeming, which is the withholding of up to 100% of salaries from staff taking industrial action short of strike (ASOS).
Rather than put an unequivocal stop to threats of deeming by college employers, Mr Dey invited the EIS-FELA to abandon the industrial action that they have been forced to take in pursuit of a fair pay rise, in exchange for colleges not to deem - essentially asking members to give in to the threat of deeming.
The Minister’s approach of tolerating public sector colleges deeming their workers who are undertaking lawful industrial action seems to be at odds with a government that says that it supports ‘Fair Work’, is opposed to Tory anti-trade union laws and has declared itself to be ‘centre-left’.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, "The EIS and EIS-FELA very firmly reject any suggestion that we call a halt to Action Short of Strike in order to stop colleges from deeming lecturers' pay. There should be no suggestion whatsoever of a quid pro quo of this kind.
"We will end the action short of strike when college employers, assisted by the Scottish Government, if need be, finally put enough money on the table to enable an acceptable settlement to be reached. Past evidence clearly shows that this is more rather than less likely to happen with sustained industrial action, including ASOS, by our members."
Ms Bradley continued, "Following only limited progress in talks with College employers today, EIS-FELA is not in a position to consider suspension of any part of its industrial action. Employers - and the Minister for Further Education - need to show much more willing than they have so far, to bring about a satisfactory resolution."
"In the meantime, the EIS has made up to £5M is available to striking members collectively to mitigate the financial hardship that is being inflicted on them by the refusal of employers to make a decent pay offer and the continuing failure of the Scottish Government to intervene meaningfully in the dispute."