The four-day strike from last Friday to yesterday (Wednesday) by around 140 nursery nurses, who are all members of Kirklees Unison, affected more than 70 schools in the region, including infant, nursery and primary schools, as well as four special schools. The nursery nurses are demanding that their pay is brought into line with that of classroom assistants, who are on salaries of up to 15,000 as the result of an agreement struck with Kirklees council in November 2000.
At present the maximum the nursery nurses can earn is 13,395. They are asking for 15,000. Kirklees has offered them 14,040 and flexibility of career grades to further increase their pay levels. But 80 per cent of the nursery nurses rejected this offer in a ballot ending on 21 March and voted for strike action, out of a 65 per cent turn-out.
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