Scottish college lecturers have consistently taken to picket lines this year (Picture: @EISFela Twitter)
The EIS-Fela union is recommending college lecturers accept a new deal to end their long-running pay battle. They should reject it and keep up the fight.
The deal includes £2,000 for September 2022 to August 2023, £1,500 for September 2023 to August 2024 and £1,500 for September 2024 to August 2025.
That’s exactly the same offer lecturers have been fighting against for years. Because of the period it covers—when inflation soared—the “rise” is a pay cut in real terms.
The only “sweetener” is a 4.14 percent rise from September 2025 to August 2026, up from an original offer of 2 percent.
This is far less than the determined and resilient lecturers deserve. And if they step up their action, they can win more. On social media some lecturers have already reacted angrily.
“Shocking offer which will be rejected,” was one response. Another said, “I am very grateful to our negotiators who have worked so hard. That said this is simply not good enough. I want parity with colleagues in schools now.”
NHS bosses in Leicester and Northamptonshire have shamefully reneged on a proposed deal to end a long-running healthcare strike. Healthcare assistants are fighting for backpay for the years when bosses wrongly put them in band 2.
That’s the lowest NHS grade and is used for workers whose roles are “non-clinical”. The strikers’ Unison union was engaged in detailed talks with management last week and officials thought they were close to a deal.
As a gesture of good faith, union negotiators had suspended a strike due to run until the end of August. But bosses, having agreed to a three-stage backpay offer, then abruptly withdrew it—without explanation.
The trust’s initial offer fell short of what Unison has won elsewhere.
Its offer of full backpay is only for those who can prove they were doing clinical tasks prior to 2021. The offer stated that everyone else would only be reimbursed for three years of being underpaid.
The bosses’ duplicity shows that Unison officials were wrong to suspend the strike. If HCAs were on the picket lines during talks, bosses would surely have felt under greater pressure. Unison says that it will now resume negotiations.
Members of the Unite union, working for the UCU higher and further education union, have called an all-out strike to escalate their dispute. It’s disgraceful that UCU leaders haven’t settled the dispute—and are instead fighting the workers’ claims.
Around 200 Unite members have called indefinite action from Tuesday next week. They last walked out in May for three days during UCU’s conference, disrupting the national event.
Despite acknowledging the need to address racism, UCU is refusing to withdraw dismissal-related procedures against black staff. The dispute is also over repeated breaches of their collective agreements and broken industrial relations.
UCU has also announced an effective pay freeze. No offer has been made in response to Unite’s annual claim submitted in April— the pay anniversary date was 1 August.
Unite regional officer Rose Keeping said, “The UCU’s undermining of existing industrial recognition agreements, failure to agree key working principles and heavy-handed use of disciplinary procedures have left our members with no choice but to strike.”
The Unite members are currently taking action short of a strike in the form of an overtime ban and work to rule.
UCU needs to listen to its workers and resolve the dispute immediately. Accusations of racism are serious matters that should be treated as such.
Workers employed by the private veterinary practice Valley Vets in South Wales walked out on Friday last week and planned to stay out until Saturday this week. Workers, including nurses, support staff and vets, already struck from 16 July to 30 July.
They also walked out from 6 August to Friday last week. The company is only offering a pay increase of between one and 1.5 percent.
Valley Vets is owned by VetPartners. It recorded gross profits of £553 million in 2023— £120 million more than the previous year.
One vet said, “Our message to VetPartners is very clear. “We want fair fees to pet owners, we want fair pay to veterinary workers.”
School workers in Reay Primary School in Lambeth, south London, have won their dispute against bad management practices.
Workers felt that governors were bullying staff and voted to strike over “unreasonable management practices” for three days a week indefinitely when students returned in September.
The dispute was resolved last week, but NEU education union members are ready to use the strike mandate, which is live for six months, if necessary.
Ancillary workers in the Unison union at Colchester, Aldeburgh, Harwich and Ipswich hospitals have walked out over trust plans to outsource their jobs.
Bosses want to transfer hundreds of workers at East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust to private sector vulture OCS.
Strikers are rightly worried that OCS will slash their NHS terms and conditions—and their pay will fall. Five days of strikes by workers at Colchester hospital ended last Friday with another large, lively and determined picket line.
As one striking cleaner said, “This strike is not just about pay. It is about the deterioration of services patients will receive if our roles are out-sourced.” Unison plans further action.
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