College employers are calling on UNISON to accept their full and final pay offer after it was overwhelmingly supported by members of the Unite and GMB trade unions.

Results from a ballot of Unite members released yesterday (Wednesday 7 February) show that nearly two-thirds (65.4%) of those who voted have agreed to accept the offer of a £5,000 consolidated pay rise for all college support staff over three years.

The GMB’s recent ballot results show that 100% of its members voted to accept on an 85% turnout.

Gavin Donoghue, Director of College Employers Scotland, said:

“Employers warmly welcome the overwhelming ballot results from Unite and GMB to accept the £5,000 consolidated pay offer over three academic years. Talks to secure a pay settlement have been ongoing since 2022, and we know that support staff in colleges want a pay rise as soon as possible.

“However, in order to get the pay offer into the pockets of support staff, we still require UNISON to accept it. If the pay offer was agreed by UNISON, it would deliver a near 16% average pay rise for support staff from September, and a 21.5% increase for support staff earning less than £25,000.

“Colleges want to apply this pay increase in the earliest possible pay period, so we urge UNISON to follow the example of Unite and the GMB and ballot its members to give them a chance to accept this very substantial pay offer.”