West College lecturers have pay withheld as local dispute escalates

From today, lecturers at West College Scotland will not receive their wages - as a national row about pay escalates locally.

Bosses at the college say they will withhold the pay of EIS-FELA members who have failed to enter students' results into the recording system.

Earlier, the union announced the results boycott as part of the nationwide dispute about pay.

However, college management is standing by the decision to begin deeming wages as it constitutes a breach in teaching employment contracts.

A proposed £5,000 pay rise over three years was formally tabled by College Employers Scotland (CES), and agreed with the support staff trade unions (UNISON, Unite and GMB) in June after it was accepted in official ballots.

However, the pay dispute with the EIS-FELA is continuing after it tabled a revised pay claim which included a fourth academic year (2025/26), college employers proposed a 3% pay rise for the fourth year.

'It is a de facto workers lockout'

EIS branch secretary Mark Gillan said: "West College Scotland has advised us that our wages will be withheld from today.

"However, as part of national industrial action, we engaged in a results boycott and did not put the results into the recording system.

"We empathise with students on the basis that we know their suffering. However, what lecturers did was we advised the students verbally within our classes. We told them their results.

"We are withholding it from the College in an attempt to say to the college 'please, we deserve a fair pay'.

"It is a de facto workers lockout and our members will not be working for nothing.

"We will not be attending work, which means that students will see we were not able to prepare for their courses and the following week, after that, classes will not be started.

"But this is all because it's been escalated by the principal and the senior management team at West College Scotland.

"It shouldn't be going this far. It should have been sorted by now. We've not had a pay rise for three years.

"We need our principal and the senior management team to stop deeming, stop punishing our lecturers by withholding 100% of their wages.

"We care about our students. Of course we do and that's what it's angered us is because this shouldn't have escalated."

'Deducting pay is never a measure colleges want to take'

A spokesperson for West College Scotland said: “The industrial action is part of the current National Dispute that affects all Scottish colleges and is outwith the control of West College Scotland to resolve locally but we hope a resolution can be negotiated at the earliest opportunity.

"At West College we pride ourselves on putting our students first and working to enable their success.

"We therefore urge teaching staff to stop withholding the results that our students have worked so hard to achieve and allow those students to receive the official qualifications they need to gain employment or continue their educational journey.

“Deducting pay is never a measure that colleges want to take.

"We absolutely recognise the legal right to take industrial action, but entering results is a critical aspect of fulfilling the teaching employment contract.

"This action directly targets students and we remain concerned about the negative impact this resulting boycott will have.

"West College do however want to assure students that the College is doing everything we can to minimise the impact of the national industrial action on their studies and progression, and we continue to liaise with employers and universities.

"We will also go ahead with our September Graduation ceremonies to give students the richly deserved opportunity to celebrate their dedication and hard work with their family and friends in a formal setting.”

The budget for Scotland’s colleges for 2024/25 has incurred a 4.7% cut in revenue funding, which the sector is asking to be reversed.

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