As of Thursday 15th August, members of the EIS-FELA trade union at Edinburgh College who are taking part in Action Short of a Strike will be docked (deemed) 100% of their pay.
College lecturers across Scotland are taking part in a protracted dispute over pay and job security, and have had no consolidated pay rise since 2021 despite rampant inflation.
In a recent email to all staff, Edinburgh College Principal Audrey Cumberford conceded that staff should be “due a pay award that reflects the issue of pay erosion over a number of years, and reflects the value of what you do”.
She further accepts that the current pay dispute is inextricably linked to the lack of Scottish Government funding of the sector, and that colleges have been left behind compared to other public sector organisations when it comes to cost-of living payrises.
EIS Branch Secretary Dan Holland said: “It is welcome that Edinburgh College leaders now publicly recognise what EIS members have been saying from the outset: that the Scottish Government are providing the barrier for a cost-of-living pay rise in the college.
“However, by choosing to punish staff for participating in Action Short of a Strike and deduct all their salary, this has now escalated the matter locally which will only serve to harm industrial relations.
“Following a local strike last year which damaged these relations, the local EIS branch has worked extremely hard with local management to repair this trust.
“This unconscionable act of deducting all our salary for refusing to complete less than 1% of our job is effectively locking staff out of coming to work, as the Principal clearly stated that any work carried out would be consider voluntary and go unpaid.
“The local branch implores the Principal to withdraw this punitive approach to evidence her commitment to the agreed cultural reset.”
Last year, the Edinburgh College EIS Branch passed a unanimous vote of no-confidence in Audrey Cumberford following an acrimonious redundancy process and complaints of bullying within the college.
Edinburgh College’s own Hive survey, commissioned at the cost of approximately £20k, further highlighted that there are significant cultural issues within the college.
Ironically, an all-staff day tomorrow – Monday 19th August – will be themed around improving the culture of the college will see many EIS members unable to attend due to this de facto lockout without pay.