| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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01 October 2003 Nursery nurse talks at risk from councillor's letterUNISON's Edinburgh Branch is this morning seeking urgent clarification from the council to try to save talks planned with officials today on the nursery nurses dispute. This follows a letter in the 'Evening News' from Councillor Frank Russell which the union says misrepresents their agreement with the council and puts the whole talks process at risk. "Our clear agreement with the Council, both verbally and in writing, was to have talks on trying to progress the national claim - not on a local agreement as the Councillor suggests", said Barbara Foubister, Edinburgh UNISON Chairperson and a nursery nurse herself. "Councillor Russell is spokesperson for CoSLA, that is where he should be using his influence to get a resolution to this dispute - especially since the council rejected a local claim earlier this year and demanded we go to CoSLA in the first place. "We have tried to negotiate at CoSLA but they have walked away. We are still ready to talk on the national claim. To say there are elements in our union who do not want a negotiated settlement is rubbish", she added. This position was backed unanimously by almost 300 nursery nurses at a meeting last night. "Nursery nurses were furious at this misrepresentation of their position and were angry that Councillor Russell had totally misunderstood that they were mandating their union officials, not the other way around", said Ms Foubister. John Stevenson, UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary said, "I am used to getting slated by politicians but nursery nurses deserve better than this. Let's get the talks at CoSLA going again rather than this point-scoring". ENDS |
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