Lecturers’ strike action hits campuses across Fife

Lecturers at Fife College are staging three days of industrial action in the latest stage of a long running dispute over over pay and job security.

Members of the EIS-Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) targeted the college’s Halbeath campus in Dunfermline on Monday, St Brycedale campus in Kirkcaldy on Tuesday, and Stenton Campus in Glenrothes on Wednesday. Picket lines have featured at the main entrances each morning, and classes have been disrupted.

Fife was one of three key parts of Scotland to be hit as the union took its fight to the constituencies of Scottish Government Ministers - Jennifer Gilruth, MSP for Glenrothes, is the education minister.

Lynn Davis, EIS convener at Fife College and Fife FELA president, said negotiations with the employers body had bene going on for a year, and the current two-year deal on the table wasn’t acceptable because it came with conditions. The union fears up to 400 jobs could be at risk across Scotland.

She explained: “We want a deal that safeguards jobs. We cannot accept an offer that involves job cuts. Our biggest concerns for every single job lost, it impacts on the courses that can be run, and every single course that is cut impacts on students - and every course cancelled impacts on the wider economy.”

She called on the Scottish Government to help broker a deal to end the dispute as the union goes back to ballot to determine the next steps its members wish to take.

EIS members have been taking industrial action short of striking since May, and began walking out a month ago. A letter was sent this week to Humza Yousaf, First Minister which said it was “ imperative” that he intervene “to ensure that public sector jobs are fully protected within the FE sector and that lecturers and support staff colleagues receive a satisfactory pay award.”

“We have had a very strong turnout in Fife. This is galvanising people - we have had a huge number of messages of support,” added Lynn.

A spokesperson for Fife College says: "We respect our colleagues’ right to strike, and we look forward to this situation being resolved quickly so that we can focus on delivering outstanding education for all students."