City college support staff strike action vote
Workers at Forth Valley College’s Raploch site to walk out
Support staff at Forth Valley College’s Raploch campus look set to go on strike next year.
They are among public service union Unison college staff up and down the country who have voted overwhelmingly for more action in a long running dispute over pay, job security and pay harmonisation.
The staff include librarians, IT specialists, technicians, administrative and business support staff, cleaners, canteen workers and estate management staff.
Unison members were reballoted over past few weeks and voted overwhelmingly (81 per cent) in favour of continuing industrial action.
Strikes are now set to take place in colleges across Scotland in 2024 unless a resolution can be found.
Forth Valley College is among those which Unison has a mandate for strike action.
The unions say that college employers had made a threeyear pay offer.
No funds were in place for the third year of the offer and employers said that jobs would be at risk unless the Scottish Government guaranteed funding.
Unison say that if there is no further movement from college employers or intervention from the Scottish Government, the strikes will begin again in 2024.
Unison Scotland further education branch secretary, Chris Greenshields said: “This ballot result shows our members feel very strongly about the appalling approach by college employers.
College staff are facing a second Christmas in real financial hardship. Our members have been waiting 16 months for a pay rise in line with inflation, free from the ongoing threats to their jobs.
“Unison is calling for employers to release last year’s pay rise to college staff immediately to alleviate hardship this winter and given the unforgiveable length of time this is taking.
“Further education is surely the worst publicly funded sector in Scotland. We have had months of disputes and job insecurity, yet here we are again lurching towards more strikes in 2024.
“College staff are left with no choice but to use the ultimate sanction to get the fair pay and job security they deserve. The Scottish Government needs to do more.”
Unison Scotland further education branch chair, Collette Bradley said: “The prospect of a three-year deal was suggested by the Scottish Government, most likely as a means of securing industrial peace in a sector that has been blighted with industrial action for around a decade.
“As it stands, our members have the worst of both worlds and are furious at below inflation pay offers and the prospect of being made compulsorily redundant to boot.
“Pay has long since been settled for every other sector. It’s time the Scottish Government pulled out all the stops if it is serious about the working class learners who depend on colleges and the vital role the sector plays in the Scottish economy.”
The Scottish Government was contacted for comment but did not respond before we went to press.