PEACE broke out last week in the increasingly bitter strike by college lecturers over national harmonisation of pay and conditions.

With industrial action escalating and the impact on students starting to bite Deputy First Minister John Swinney appointed a specialist negotiator to try and resolve the dispute.

As the clock wound down on Friday evening and another week of strikes loomed the puff of white smoke finally came at 5.57pm.

The reaction of all concerned, if we are to believe the joint statement from Colleges Scotland and the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), was one of “delight”.

This did not quite seem to sum up the emotions of some within college management who felt political interference had tipped the balance in favour of the EIS negotiating team.

And even with strikes suspended there are still significant elements of the deal to be negotiated and the full implications of what has been agreed are also not fully understood.

What we know is that the deal ushers in a new pay scale giving unpromoted lecturers an annual salary of just over £40,000.

Further education has been undervalued and this significant gesture is a long overdue demonstration of the value of college lecturers to society.

The other elements agreed are a move to 23 hours teaching time for new staff out of a 35 hour working week. Given negotiations had come down to a straight fight between 22 and 24 hours this seems a sensible compromise.

What remains under discussion is holiday entitlement, with the EIS holding out for 63 days for new staff and management wanting that reduced to 60 days.

A crucial issue for unions throughout negotiations was that of no detriment - the view that existing staff with better terms and conditions should not lose out through harmonisation.

While this is a perfectly understandable position for the EIS to take, what it means in practice is a two-tier workforce in which many newly-appointed staff will be worse off than their colleagues.

While this can impact on the unity felt by a workforce there are also fears new staff will be viewed as more “economically efficient” making older employees more vulnerable for redundancy.

Another concern is what happens to staff on temporary fixed term contracts.

Such staff could be at risk of losing their jobs in colleges where lecturers currently teach fewer than the agreed 23 hours as more teaching time is taken up by staff on permanent contracts.

Unions are also concerned such lecturers will be treated as “new starts” when current contracts come to an end, effectively by-passing the “no detriment” clause.

The other big question is one of affordability. Colleges Scotland suggests the deal will cost them £40 million a year at a time when the majority of institutions are running at a loss.

It would be wrong for the Scottish Government to influence negotiations without also providing the necessary funds to ensure the resulting deal is affordable.