Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 March 2021.
Iain Gray
Labour
Given that students are trying to maintain their studies in spite of the pandemic, strike action in colleges is undesirable and in this case unnecessary. Equally, this is no time to attack the terms and conditions of college staff.
More than a week ago, the national joint negotiating committee agreed the principle that there is no national plan to replace lecturers with instructor-type posts to do the same job. The trade union EIS-FELA ratified that agreement in its national executive and suspended action, but Colleges Scotland refused to ratify the agreement, even though the agreement was based on an employer-side proposal. That seems to be a matter of bad faith. Will the Minister intervene now to ask Colleges Scotland to stand by its words, ratify the agreement that it made and stop the need for strike action?
A group of workers who have united to promote their common interests.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
