| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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3 February 2004 Council must 'put up or shut up' on Nursery NursesUNISON is challenging Edinburgh Council to 'put up or shut up' on the nursery nurse dispute as staff stage another walk out on 4 February - almost a year into their industrial action. We read that Councillor Russell has an offer in mind in the next few weeks. But he has been saying that for months and nothing has appeared. If Edinburgh has a plan to resolve the dispute, which we doubt, it should use its role in CoSLA to get a solution," said John Stevenson, UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary. "We believe a national settlement is the only constructive way forward for councils and nursery nurses. But the Council knows that if they put local improvements on the table, we would have to consult our members. The fact is that no proposals have been put other than a pay cut. The Council is merely stalling with no real strategy for giving fair pay to nursery nurses. "We are urging all employers to use the next two weeks to get into real talks for the very first time to avoid escalated action and long term damage to early years education and care. "Nursery Nurses have completely lost confidence in their employers. They are furious at politician's spinning that they are being bounced into action by their union leaders. Nursery nurses have led this action at every stage. We don't need to ballot again but nursery nurses themselves have demanded the new ballot to step up the action because they are so fed up with the employers lack of response", ENDS Further Information John Stevenson, branch secretary, 07880 563178 (m) |
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