Students in Perth have agreed to officially support lecturers in the ongoing strikes over pay.
Members of the union EIS Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA) at Perth College UHI, have been taking part in nationwide strikes over the past few months in a pay dispute with Colleges Scotland Employers’ Association.
The union is calling on a cost of living pay rise, and had rejected the offer of around a 12 per cent rise over three years.
Now, at a special meeting of the student representative council at the college, it was decided the students’ association would officially support EIS-FELA with their pay dispute, in a bid to stop strikes happening during their exams.
The students’ association will now call on the Scottish Government to resolve the ongoing dispute by ensuring funding is available for colleges to cover the cost of living pay rise.
This comes as the latest industrial strike action, scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday, May 8) was suspended, however more strikes are expected to take place in the near future.
Prince Honeysett, president of the Highlands and Islands Students’ Association Perth, said: “Students of Perth stand with our lecturers.
“It is fair to expect wages to rise as the cost of living rises.
“However, the standoff with Colleges Scotland has gone on long enough, and the Scottish Government must step in.
“Students have faced considerable disruption due to the deadlock between lecturers at Colleges Scotland.
“We can’t tolerate further disruption over our assessment period. This dispute not only affects our studies, but our opportunities once we graduate.
“Students today are workers tomorrow, and we expect salaries in professions we will apply for to cover the cost of living after we leave college.”
He continued: “We want teaching to be a desirable profession.
“In the areas we study, we want the best to teach us.
“There is a real risk that colleges will lose tutors if there is not a cost of living pay rise.
“We want to be taught and we want to sit our assessments, but stagnating salaries while the cost of living rises is not in students’ interest.
“We understand the financial pressures colleges have.
“That is why we are calling on the Scottish Government to step in and ensure that a cost of living pay rise is funded and this dispute can be drawn to a close.”
Speaking on the cancelled strike action scheduled for tomorrow, Prince said: “We are hopeful this is an indication that an agreement will soon be reached.
“As the dispute is still live, the position of Perth College UHI students remain that the Scottish Government should ensure colleges are adequately funded to pay our tutors. The dispute continues to cause uncertainty amongst students at a time when we need focus on our assessments.”
