CATERING jobs could be cut at Glasgow Kelvin College when the former Stow College building is closed next year, a trade union has warned.

More than a dozen staff who work at the City Campus are fighting for their future after it was revealed by the Evening Times that a contract with catering company Elior has been cancelled at a cost of £108,000 to the cash-strapped college.

Contracts drawn up by the management of Stow College before a merger with John Wheatley College and North Glasgow College means the cafe is subsidised if it is not making "sufficient revenue" and thousands of pounds were handed over before the contract was torn up by Glasgow Kelvin management recently.

College catering staff, whose employment contracts were transferred to Elior in 2012, are now in a battle to save their jobs, with the former Stow building expected to close next July.

Scott Donohoe, assistant branch secretary with trade union Unison, said: "Following the recent decision by the board to end the catering contract at City Campus, Unison has been in discussion with management to secure the jobs of the thirteen members who have more than 130 years of service to the college between them.

"Last week Elior announced to staff that they will begin a short consultation which could result in the first compulsory redundancies in the sector since (former education minister) Mike Russell indicated that noone would lose their job as a result of regionalisation."

The union has asked college management to move the catering staff to other campuses and stop the process of tendering for a private contractor by bringing catering services under college control.

However, a spokeswoman for the college washed their hands of the catering staff who are employed by Elior.

She said: "As the college is not the employer it is regrettably not in a position to comment on this matter."

Meanwhile, employer Elior has refused to discuss the jobs during the ongoing talks with redundancy-threatened staff.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "As the college building is closing, Elior is currently in consultation with our staff on the impact of this closure on their roles and we cannot comment further during this consultation period."

The union wrote to education minister Angela Constance and asked her to intervene but a spokeswoman for the politician distanced her from the issue.

"The catering contract is an operational matter for the college and the firm which manages it, while the employment of catering staff is the responsibility of the contractor," she said.

"Clearly any uncertainty over the impact of future catering arrangements on individual employees is regrettable and we would hope that the position for them becomes clear soon."