The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has given notice to
all of Scotland's Further Education colleges of a further
programme of escalating strike action in a long running dispute
over pay.
This marks a further increased escalation in the pay dispute,
where members of the EIS-Further Education Lecturers Association
(EIS-FELA) have been taking action short of strike since the
middle of February and have already taken a number of days of
national strike action.
College lecturers should have received a pay uplift at the
beginning of September 2022 and, following over a year of
protracted negotiations, College Employers Scotland continue to
claim that their ‘full and final' pay offer of £5,000 over three
years is a fair pay offer for college staff. However, for many
EIS-FELA members, the amount of money tabled in the second year
of this offer sits below current public sector pay policy.
EIS-FELA does not accept that its members should be treated any
differently to any other public sector worker and are simply
seeking a pay offer which is reflective of their professional
role in education and in parity with their colleagues in the rest
of the public sector.
At an EIS-FELA Executive Committee meeting, members have decided
not to programme any strike action for the weeks beginning
6th and 13th May, as a show of goodwill and
to afford an opportunity for continuing discussions in an attempt
to reach a resolution.
In the event that no resolution is reached, then beginning on
Monday 20th May, as an escalation of their current
industrial dispute, a further programme of strikes will take
place with EIS-FELA members in all colleges taking strike action
each day for nine days over a three-week period. A full programme
of strike action is provided below.
(ENDS)
Escalating Action Week One:
Monday 20th and Thursday 23rd
May
Escalating Action Week Two:
Tuesday 28th, Thursday 30th and
Friday 31st May
Escalating Action Week Three:
Monday 3rd, Tuesday 4th, Wednesday
5th and Friday 7th June
