STRIKING college lecturers rallied alongside politicians and trade unionists to fight the City of Glasgow College’s plans to axe its trade union education centre.
Labour, SNP and Green politicians, as well CWU, Unison and Unite members, joined the picket at the college’s Riverside campus in the city’s Gorbals district.
They not only showed their support in EIS-FELA members’ three-year battle to win a pay rise, but also demanded a halt in proposals from under-fire college principal Paul Little to close its TUC Education Centre.
Taking aim at Mr Little, who saw his plans for over 100 compulsory redundancies defeated at the college last year, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley told the rally: “Paul Little’s decision to close the trade union centre at City of Glasgow College represents nothing less than an ideological attack on the whole trade union movement.”
One lecturer at the centre, Sonya Cassidy, said: “As much as we focus on the personal challenges brought on by the management of the college, we know the wider implications of the closure are far more concerning.
“Let’s be clear: the management do not want trade union activity of any sort at the the college. The decision to close the centre is a political one — it is an attack on the movement.”
The removal of TUC rep training in Scotland will devastate the trade union movement, Ms Cassidy warned.
She said: “We will not have the capability to train our reps and gain the skills required to challenge employers in the workplace or represent our members to win safe and healthy workplaces.
“It will diminish the ability of the trade union movement to produce confident, educated, articulate reps who can deliver for our members on pay, jobs and conditions.
“This fight is not about six members of staff, it is about 600,000 trade unionists in Scotland.”
A City of Glasgow College spokesperson said that “no final decision had been taken to close the TUC Education Centre,” adding: “All colleges in Scotland are continuing to face significant multi-year financial and funding challenges and are having to find big savings and generate additional income.
”As Scotland’s largest college, we are projecting a deficit for academic year 2024/25 of under £2 million, and we are therefore exploring every option to balance the books as we are required to do.”
