Nursery World - Nursery nurses gain record rise (1)

Nursery nurse members of Unison in West Yorkshire have settled a long-running pay dispute with their local authority, Kirklees, which makes them among the highest paid in the north of England. Members of the Kirklees branch voted to accept the council's offer on 23 June, following nine days of strikes in April and May that involved more than 140 nursery nurses and affected up to 70 nurseries and nursery classes. Members had voted for another one-day strike and Unison had threatened to ballot all 7,000 of its council worker members to walk out with them if their demands were not met.

Members of the Kirklees branch voted to accept the council's offer on 23 June, following nine days of strikes in April and May that involved more than 140 nursery nurses and affected up to 70 nurseries and nursery classes. Members had voted for another one-day strike and Unison had threatened to ballot all 7,000 of its council worker members to walk out with them if their demands were not met.

Paul Holmes, Kirklees branch secretary, said, 'This settlement makes Kirklees' nursery nurses the best paid in Yorkshire and probably the north of England.'

He added, 'The nursery nurses stuck together and are a credit to the union.

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