Unhappy staff hit out at City of Glasgow

 Published in TESS on 27 September, 2013 | By: Julia Belgutay

"Low morale is rife in college hailed as a model for regionalisation

Staff at Scotland’s biggest college, which has been hailed as an example for other merging institutions to follow, are unhappy and “feel disenfranchised”, according to a study."

“Scoring below average on employee satisfaction is an indicator of a workforce that is not engaged,” the study says. “If your organisation is not committed to customer service, what are they committed to?”

".... Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, which represents college lecturers, said that the mood among teaching staff at City of Glasgow was one of “frustration” because the process of harmonising the terms and conditions of staff had “effectively been stalled”. “It is clear that this report identifies a number of issues of significant concern that the management of the college must take steps to address,” he added.

“Many of the issues highlighted in the report, such as lack of staff engagement and resulting low morale, are indicative of the types of poor management practice that have been so widespread in many colleges - and which the regionalisation programme is seeking to address.”...."

Link to article below

The Correlate would suggest that this report reflects the mood of the whole Scottish FE Sector staff with regard to the processes adopted for "mergers" and would also suggest that the EIS should know that it is not just 'frustration' but fear and anger! .... see links below

Staff are extremely fearful for their jobs and the quality of service they can provide for their students considering the severity of cuts that have been made and more are forecast!

The Staff are extremely angry at the appointment processes and salaries for College Principals and Senior Staff in the merger processes and possibly more so at the level of payouts for those principals taking 'severance', possibly including garden leave or an increase in the period of notice they are given?

The public should also be extremely concerned about the above but also about the fact that it has been reported that the Colleges have around £214 million pounds in reserve - with around £199 million in cash or cash equivalent! If these figures are correct then why the cuts?

Maybe some right minded MSPs will look to investigate and publish the figures related to Principals payouts, any beneficial changes to terms and conditions for outgoing Principals and why the reserves? - all in the public interest?

We would also question the EIS as to why, at their AGM,  there was not a single motion or proposal specifically related to the FE crisis that is seriously impacting on their members ?  - Not one?