With colleges mired in industrial action for the seventh time since 2015, Gavin Donoghue, Director of College Employers Scotland, examines possible reforms that could break the cycle of strikes and strengthen national collective bargainingGroundhog Day for Scotland’s collegesIt is the beginning of a new year – traditionally a time for personal reflection, change, and a fresh start.Scotland’s colleges could certainly use a fresh start in their relationship with trade unions. Sadly, the opening weeks of 2024 have something of a Groundhog Day feel, as institutions brace for yet more strikes amid the seventh round of industrial action since collective bargaining began in 2015. Collective national bargaining, with the National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC) at its heart, has the goal of jointly agreeing issues such as pay and terms and conditions of employment in Scotland’s colleges, in partnership with the trade unions. It must also serve the diverse needs of the entire college workforce, including lecturers and thousands of support staff in areas such as IT, library services, administration, and estates management.Accordingly, the NJNC has a Central Committee, which deals with matters affecting all employees, and two side tables for issues specific to lecturers or support staff. However, it has been clear for some time that the arrangement is not functioning as it should, with lengthy talks failing to resolve long-standing issues around pay and conditions.The latest chapter of industrial action began in May last year, when college lecturers who are in the EIS-FELA union began action short of strike (ASOS), including a highly disruptive boycott on entering student results. Then, at the start of the current academic year, they joined with support staff colleagues who are members of UNISON and Unite to launch national and localised strikes, while the resulting boycott also continued.More industrial action on the way?Another wave of industrial action seems to be on the cards. UNISON has already secured a renewed, six-month strike mandate after 48% of its members – equating to around one fifth of the overall FTE support staff workforce–- voted for further strike action. The EIS-FELA is also balloting for an extended mandate to continue with strikes, ASOS, and a results boycott from February onwards.Throughout recent discussions, colleges have shown flexibility and creativity in their efforts to secure a pay agreement. Against a backdrop of real-terms public spending cuts, College Employers Scotland (CES), which represents colleges as employers, has moved repeatedly to improve the pay proposals put to trade unions. It is currently offering the EIS-FELA and support staff unions (UNISON, Unite and GMB) a consolidated £5,000 pay rise for all college staff over three academic years.If accepted, this full and final offer would mean an 11.5% average pay rise from September for Scotland’s college lecturers – already the best-paid in the UK – and just over 14% for lecturers at the start of the national pay scale. Support staff would receive an even greater pay increase of nearly 16%, with those earning less than £25,000 enjoying a 21.5% boost. However, the EIS-FELA, UNISON and Unite have so far refused the employers’ request to take the offer formally to their members for consideration.At the centre of the impasse are students. There was huge upheaval in their education at the start of the decade, as Covid-related lockdowns transformed the delivery of teaching and learning. Now they face further, prolonged disruption due to industrial action. All this has sparked a growing feeling that the process for deciding pay and conditions at Scotland’s colleges needs significant reform – and quickly.Ideas for reformFortunately, there is lots of analysis of where the existing set-up could be improved, with no fewer than three Lessons Learned exercises carried out since 2017. The Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee al...

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