A leading union figure has added further volume to the chorus of discontent over plans to merge Angus and Dundee colleges.
Confirmation came earlier this week that the two establishments are in talks over the creation of a 1,200-employee single college with a £40 million annual budget.
Prompted by a drive towards regionalisation in pursuit of greater efficiency and accountability, the plan has been the subject of talks between the boards of both colleges and Angus College has said it will seek to ”build on the current strengths of both institutions and continue to serve the educational needs of their diverse communities”.
The Educational Institue of the Scotland (EIS) has already raised fears over possible job losses and on Wednesday Angus College Unison representative Dougie Deans said the merger plan was a forced move which would have an impact on staff, students and the college communities.
Backing the earlier EIS statement, he said: ”These proposals are totally unnecessary and are being railroaded through by a Scottish Government hell-bent on using their political will, being a majority, to reduce the further education sector by one third.
”As early as March 2010 Unison raised awareness to the Scottish public of the Scottish Government’s intentions through a range of lunchtime protests.”
Later that year Angus Unison members submitted a 2,000-plus signature petition to Holyrood in protest at possible funding cuts and local figures also had the opportunity to air their concerns directly with Education Secretary Mike Russell during a subsequent visit to the Arbroath college campus.
Mr Deans added: ”Mr Russell stated then that he was not forcing any college to merge, and again at a meeting with Unison delegates in April 2011 at Holyrood, but could not give any guarantee over compulsory redundancies.
”The Scottish Government might not be forcing any merger but at present 43 colleges have now been reduced to 13 regions using a ‘carrot and stick approach’, ie if you merge we will give you more of a budget, if you adopt the federation proposal you might find it unworkable and therefore we could find difficulty funding this.
”The further education budget has been cut by over £74m over the next three years. We are already seeing students being turned away due to no places, jobs being lost and overall it is the community that suffers.
”Both Angus College and Dundee College provide and serve their respective communities well, tick all the right boxes as well as providing a useful resource to local business and commerce.
”These two institutions are financially stable, punch well above their weight and Unison is of the opinion that this forced situation will have an impact on staff, students and the communities they serve.
”Unison at Angus College will work with their management, who have been transparent throughout this whole process which is being forced upon them.
”We will also work with the other two recognised trade unions, GMB and EIS, to safeguard jobs and courses.”
During the summer the two colleges worked with business services group KPMG to draw up plans for progressing the regionalisation agenda.
Options under scrutiny include a full-blown merger between the colleges or a looser arrangement which would allow the sharing of resources but enable Angus and Dundee to retain independent identities.