BOSSES at Edinburgh College stand accused of enforcing a “de facto lockout” of teaching staff today — a year after sacking a union rep.

The pay dispute in Scottish colleges has entered its third year, with colleges now coming under pressure from lecturers’ union EIS-FELA to drop controversial plans to dock large proportions of pay from workers undertaking action short of strike, such as marking boycotts. 

Some colleges have backed down, but Edinburgh principal Audrey Cumberford, who fired a union rep last year, emailed lecturers on August 13 to demand they ditch industrial action and complete assessment marking by the next day, or face losing 100 per cent of their pay, whether they are on strike or not.