Lecturers balloted on new pay offer

TRADE UNION URGES ACCEPTANCE OF IMPROVED OFFER

The EIS will open an indicative ballot on a revised ‘full and final’ pay offer from college employers, and will recommend to its members in the EIS Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA) to vote to accept the offer, the trade union announced yesterday.

The improved offer, which was received by EIS-FELA on Friday, was discussed at a special meeting of the EIS-FELA Executive Committee. Following discussion, it was agreed to recommend acceptance of the offer to members, in light of the significant improvement upon the previous offer and the repayment of any salary deducted by ‘deeming’ in response to Action Short of Strike.

Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “We will open an indicative ballot of our EIS-FELA members today, reflecting the EIS-FELA Executive’s decision to recommend that members accept this improved offer.

“This has been a long and painful campaign, with EIS-FELA members forced to engage in a long-running programme of industrial action to secure a fair pay offer from college employers and assurance that this will not come at the cost of jobs. The gains which have been achieved in this offer have been hard-won, and it is of great credit to our members that they have taken this stand and fought hard to secure this improved offer from colleges.

“The intervention of the Scottish Government, and their commitment of an additional £4.5M in funding, was key to the improvements in this offer. It will now be for EIS-FELA members to decide whether to accept the offer and bring this dispute and campaign of industrial action to an end.”

Ms Bradley continued, “Lecturers never wanted to be in this position, but were left with no choice but to engage in this programme of action as an option of last resort. During the worst cost of living crisis in living memory, our members have waited two years for a pay increase from their employers and have taken strike action and action short of strike to compel their colleges to come up with a fair offer.

“In addition to the significant increase in the value of the offer in Year 4 and the assurance in relation to no compulsory redundancies as a result of this deal, it would also compel all colleges who have ‘deemed’ pay from lecturers taking Action Short of Strike to repay that money to our members.

“This clearly highlights the unacceptable nature of the process of deeming – an anti-trade union tactic which has absolutely no place in our public sector or in any civilised society that respects and values the essential role that trade unions play in ensuring that our workplaces are fair.”

Ms Bradley added, “Our members in EIS-FELA should look out in their email inboxes for ballot information arriving this afternoon. It is important that all members have their say in this ballot, and use their vote to make their view known.

“The EIS-FELA Executive Committee is recommending that members should vote to accept the offer but, ultimately, it is our members themselves who will determine the result of this ballot.”

Note – While all planned strike action has been suspended for week beginning 26th August, the programme of Action Short of Strike (ASOS) currently remains in place, including the ongoing resulting boycott, pending the result of the indicative ballot.