LECTURERS at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) will strike for a fourth day today in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) are also taking other forms of industrial action as the union says that there has been no significant improvement in pay since last year. 

General secretary Larry Flanagan said: “With the programme of strike action at SRUC now entering its fourth week, it is overdue for management to heed the legitimate concerns of lecturing staff. 

“Pay for lecturers at SRUC has fallen significantly behind the norms across both the further and higher education sectors and it is time for management to commit to pay their lecturers fairly for the work they do.

“Despite the continuing intransigence of SRUC management, our members remain determined to secure a long-awaited fair pay and grading agreement for all lecturing staff.”

Members’ support for the industrial action has been strong, with picket lines at all SRUC campuses on every strike day.

A management spokesman said: “We are disappointed by the actions of the EIS leadership. We have made strong progress in these areas and EIS have been involved and consulted every step of the way.

“We encourage the EIS to re-engage with our agreed internal dispute mechanism, including the ongoing offer of external mediation to resolve any specific concerns they may have.

“We are fully committed to a review of pay and grading, which has already started.”