A LECTURERS’ union embroiled in a dispute with Scottish further education colleges has accused the employers’ group of “rejecting its own proposals.”

Members of Educational Institute of Scotland’s Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) began strike action today as part of a campaign to halt the replacement of lecturers’ jobs across the country with lower-paid posts. 

Last week, a joint statement by the union and employers’ body Colleges Scotland said that an agreement had been reached and so the action would be suspended. 

But the strike continued after the employers failed to ratify the deal, leading the union to accuse the colleges of “duplicity.”

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “I have been involved in many negotiations over my years as a trade unionist, but rarely have I seen anything more bizarre than an employer failing to ratify an agreement largely based on its own proposals.

“EIS-FELA duly ratified the agreement, only to then find that Colleges Scotland was now refusing to do likewise — with the management side effectively rejecting its own proposals.

“Lecturers do not want to strike but are taking a stand in defence of lecturing jobs and high standards of teaching across the Scottish further education sector.”

Student representatives have also condemned the move, with NUS Scotland president Matt Crilly saying students and staff need to be put first by colleges. 

He said that the NUS shared the teaching union’s concerns over the downgrading of jobs, which will “undoubtedly” lead to “a cut in the quality of our education.”

A Colleges Scotland spokeswoman described the strike as “extremely disappointing” during a “very difficult and challenging year.”

She added: “The EIS-FELA is breaching national agreed protocols by taking unnecessary industrial action while meaningful discussions are still ongoing.”