| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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Date: Friday 28 May 2004 Strike over as Edinburgh Nursery Nurses vote to accept revised offerEdinburgh's 400 nursery nurses have voted to accept a revised pay offer from the council and return to work on Monday 31 May after over a year of selective action and three months of all out strike. The offer was 'reluctantly' recommended by local union leaders after seven hours of talks last week at ACAS. Nursery nurses then voted to accept by five to one in a postal ballot result announced to a meeting of members at 11.00 today. "The nursery nurses have been magnificent throughout this dispute and a model to others with their good nature, solid organisation and real commitment to the future of early years care and education", said John Stevenson, UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary. "They have achieved an unprecedented 10 point pay rise, a lump sum of up to £2,500 and an opportunity for almost one in three to progress to an even higher grade. Along with winning a promise of a national review, that is the biggest achievement I have seen by any group of workers over the last 20 years", added Mr Stevenson. "Most of all, they have forced the council and the Scottish Executive to wake up to the importance of early years care and education and to the crucial services for children with special needs. We will be watching the national review very closely to make sure there is real investment in the service, not just political talk", he added. "The only dull note is that nursery nurses feel badly let down by their employers. A mere increase of £400 a year on top of the offer would have sent them back to work feeling that their council had listened and really valued them. As it is, they weighed up the costs to themselves and to the children they serve as the move to primary school approaches, and took a brave decision to say 'enough is enough'", said Barbara Foubister, UNISON Edinburgh Chairperson and a nursery nurse herself. "They have shown a real commitment to their service, it is now up to the council to show the same commitment", added Ms Foubister. The meeting of nursery nurses today was unanimous in its support for collegaues still on strike in other authorities. "This is a settlement in Edinburgh reflecting the specific difficulties in Edinburgh. Our full support goes out to all our colleagues in other authorities. We will back them to the full in their fight for what they see as a fair settlement", added Mr Stevenson. "It just shows what a mess CoSLA is now in. We have two national settlements emerging, just over £10 an hour and just under £10 an hour, yet CoSLA wouldn't accept a national deal. Councils are talking to each other to try to set similar deals. Why on earth could they not do have done that round one table at the beginning and all this strife could have been avoided?" Note for editors: The deal moves a nursery nurse in schools at the top of the grade from £13,896 to £15,906 with a £2,500 lump sum one-off payment. Because they will have to work an extra 2.5 hours a week the actual increase is around 7%. There will be 110 new senior posts rising to £17,000. ENDS |
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