STRIKING West College Scotland lecturers have accused the Scottish Government of failing students in Inverclyde by failing to invest in further education.
Members of the local EIS-FELA branch are now set to meet MSP Stuart McMillan for talks on pay and cuts at the further education facility in Greenock after picketing outside his office last week.
They warn that college lecturers are falling further behind teachers and other public sector workers when it comes to wages, and claim they are undervalued by the SNP government.
The lecturers say that this has a knock-on effect upon students who are suffering because of cuts to courses.
Funding for a new college campus in Inverclyde has also failed to materialise.
EIS-FELA branch secretary Stuart Gorman said: "The government are always saying their priority is to lift people out of poverty.
"What do they think we do day-in, day-out at West College Scotland's Greenock campus?
"How can you ever build the economy in Inverclyde and give people the skills they need without investing in the college? How can you give young people a chance to train without further education?
"That means investing in your staff. College lecturers are now falling way behind teachers in the pay scale. The government can find it if they want to. They intervened for doctors and teachers."
Those on the picket line claimed that the decision to merge colleges like James Watt and Reid Kerr had a been a disaster and there had been funding cuts ever since.
One member said: "All they have done since they were elected is cut further education funding year on year. There has been no investment or benefits to mergers, only cuts."
The group are warning the public that further education is under threat as a result of the failure to invest in the workforce.
Another member added: "I would never have described myself as an activist before and I had never been on a picket line. But I am sick of all the cuts to the college. Every year they come back with more voluntary redundancy packages and more courses are cut.
"Our students rely on the college and they are being badly let down."
Higher education and further education minister Graeme Dey has said in parliament that while he recognised the role further education makes, the dispute is between lecturers and their bosses College Employers Scotland.
Prior to the meeting he defended the government's record in the college sector on further education and blamed the UK Government for cutting their spending power.
The Inverclyde MSP said: "I am more than happy to meet with local lecturers, as I have regularly done over the years, to hear firsthand their concerns.
"The Scottish Government is not the employer so cannot directly intervene. This has been the position of the government during every period of industrial action in the college sector over nine of the last 10 years.
"This cannot continue, and we need to get to a place where there is a more harmonious relationship in the sector.
" I know the valuable role West College Scotland plays in our community.
"I back our public sector workers who are seeking pay rises. I want our public sector workers to feel valued and see their pay increase.
"However, the money needs to come from somewhere and at the moment, the government has only one option, take money from one area to give to another.
"That is incredibly difficult when there is not one budget that has a penny to spare.”
EIS-FELA are currently stepping up their industrial action after repeatedly rejecting the pay deals put on the table since 2022.
They have been offered £5,000 paid in instalments over three years. But union leaders argue this is poorer than the offer made to other public sector workers and fear that bosses will need to cut jobs or services to pay for it.
College support staff represented by union Unison recently settled their pay dispute after finally securing a guarantee of no redundancies.
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