HUNDREDS of lecturers ­rallied outside the Scottish Parliament on their first day of strike action yesterday, calling on the Scottish government to intervene in their ongoing pay dispute.

Teaching union EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan told members that this was a dispute “we must win for our members and the wider trade union movement” and asked umbrella group Colleges Scotland to respond positively to the anger felt in the further education (FE) sector.

The dispute stems from college management’s refusal to honour an agreement to restore national bargaining and create national pay scales for lecturers.

Under the current system of local bargaining, there are huge pay differentials across the sector between lecturers doing the same job.

Mr Flanagan also asked the Scottish government to “intervene and broker a deal,” given the ruling SNP’s manifesto pledge during in the last election campaign to restore national bargaining, which had “not become a reality.”

EIS-FELA (Further Education Lecturers’ Association) president John Kelly welcomed the “fabulous turnout” at picket lines up and down Scotland and told members: “Our claim is right and we will win this.”

Colleges Scotland chief executive Shona Struthers claimed in a statement yesterday that the two sides were “on the cusp of finding a viable solution” and urged EIS to call off the strike.

But Mr Kelly said he had “not been informed” and knew nothing of a new deal, despite being on the negotiating team.

Public-sector union Unison organiser John Gallacher brought greetings of solidarity, adding that “a significant number” of his union’s members had refused to cross EIS picket lines.

He pledged that Unison and EIS would “continue to fight side by side for equal pay across Scotland.”

EIS-FELA, which has a total of 32 days’ action planned, will meet with Colleges Scotland this afternoon to try to resolve the dispute.

A Scottish government spokesman said: “It’s disappointing that this industrial action is taking place.

“The worst possible outcome from this dispute would be to compromise students’ ability to achieve their qualifications during their final term of study.”