Ongoing Strike Action by City of Glasgow College Lecturers

That the Parliament notes with concern the ongoing strike action by City of Glasgow College lecturers, who have reportedly taken nine weeks of action; regrets that lecturers have, it considers, been put into this situation and that students are being impacted; understands that it is a requirement of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) financial allocations to colleges that each institution has a Fair Work agreement in place, which states that, "As a recipient of public funds, colleges must be committed to Fair Work practices for staff (including any agency or sub-contractor workers) engaged in the delivery of activity associated with public funds", and that colleges are expected "to have a statement on Fair Work practices that has been developed in agreement with [their] workforce[s]", which "should be from the relevant trade union where one is present"; believes that the background to what it considers to be this unprecedented action is a botched and arbitrary process to implement 100 compulsory redundancies without proper negotiation or consultation, which, it believes, is a situation in which the minister and the SFC have the power to intervene, but have not yet done so; understands that the lecturers felt that they were left with no alternative but to take strike action, which has reportedly delayed the redundancy process for three months, and that, so far, no member of staff has been issued with a redundancy notice; further understands that the EIS-FELA branch has been asking for a Fair Work agreement for over a year, and that it reportedly asked again immediately before strike action was called, but was ignored; believes that, had a Fair Work agreement been in place, the college would have been unlikely to find itself in what it sees as this crisis; further believes that it is the responsibility of MSPs to hold the Scottish Government and public institutions to account; understands that the SFC and the minister have the power to intervene constructively to help resolve this dispute; further understands that the striking lecturers have asked the minister to intervene to help resolve the situation on several occasions, and believes that the minister has both legislative powers and policy powers that can be used to intervene; understands that the union branch is asking for a pause to the redundancy process and the setting up of a working group with senior management to draw up a Fair Work agreement, with the Government’s Fair Work Directorate as observers in the process, and notes the belief that such action could lead to a speedy resolution of this dispute.