Unison seeks commitment to ease further education cuts

In a speech to delegates at the union’s Further Education and Sixth Form Colleges Seminar in Edinburgh, union chief Dave Prentis will call for all political parties to sign up to the pledges.

He will seek a commitment to no compulsory redundancies, a legally enforceable cap on principals’ pay, guaranteed access to high quality education and training for all learners, greater contributions from big business to further education and a statutory right to learning in the workplace.

Prentis will say: "We need to help the victims of the recession re-skill and retrain, to help get them back into work. Further education staff are among those working long hours, for low pay, going that extra mile to help our communities recover.

"If the bankers had shown a fraction of the dedication and decency of our members then we would not have suffered the longest economic crisis for 60 years."