Despite being at odds for over a decade, college staff and employers agree on one point: Colleges are undervalued.
Current negotiations over a 2022 pay claim continue to stall. There have been multiple “full and final offers” from employers, but no agreement.
Now, both sides are waiting for the results of an EIS-FELA strike ballot which will determine the next phase of negotiations.
If successful, it could mean lecture strikes and a new results boycott. This will put more pressure on delegates to find a quick resolution before students are once again facing the consequences.
The national negotiating committee for colleges is set up to bring together representatives from the employer and employee sides.
But each time union and employer representatives meet, they feel there is missing seat at the table: one for the Scottish Government.
The government has no obligation to take part in negotiations during pay disputes.
But both sides have said that the government has a vested interest in breaking with convention and taking a more active role in resolving this conflict. The college sector is critical to many government agenda pieces.
And even if the government is not formally part of the bargaining process, it takes the first de facto step in every negotiation when it sets the sector’s budget.
This determines how much employers must work with and what percentage of the overall budget will go towards staff pay.
According to recent audit reports, that percentage is roughly 70%. And it’s likely to increase to a level that could mean colleges won’t be able to properly function without an increase in funding.
But those same audit reports echo what the employers and unions are arguing: Colleges are important to their communities and the government has a vested interest in keeping them afloat.
