Hundreds of college staff at 21 Scottish sites striking over pay dispute

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hundreds of college staff across Scotland are striking today in a dispute over fair pay and jobs.Support staff, including librarians, IT specialists, administrators, cleaners, canteen workers and estate management staff, at 21 colleges across the country are taking part in the industrial action.

Employees are still waiting for a pay rise that was due in September 2022 and their employers to guarantee any pay rises won't be at the expense of jobs.The college workers are taking strike action as part of a dispute that has been running for 18 months.

In December, the employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to continue their campaign.UNISON, the union for further education workers, says college leaders must guarantee there will no compulsory redundancies if they want to avoid further disruption.UNISON Scotland’s further education branch secretary Chris Greenshields said: “College staff up and down the country have had enough, it has been 78 weeks since staff were due their pay rise and they are demanding that this dispute is settled free from the threat of compulsory redundancy.“UNISON is committed to reaching a resolution to this dispute and submitted revised proposals in December to resolve matters which the colleges took over two months to reject.

It beggars belief that employers haven't even bothered to meet the unions since early December. College staff want an end to this dispute and to get back to the jobs they love - supporting learners.”Ayrshire College, City of Glasgow College, Edinburgh College, Fife College and Forth Valley College are amongst the 21 establishments taking part in the action.Chair of UNISON Scotland's further education branch Collette Bradley said:“Further education in Scotland is