More than 40 nursery managers and support staff, all of whom are members of the public services union Unison, have accused Ealing Council in west London of reneging on a pay agreement that would give them salary rises of about Pounds 5,000 each.
Brian Blake, Unison convenor for social services, said the nursery nurses have not had their jobs re-graded for 15 years, even though similar groups in other areas had received pay rises.
He said, 'These are experienced nursery nurses who are currently paid less than administration workers. These new grades would reflect the duties they carry out and it is only fair that they get paid more.
'There will be a ballot and that could possibly be followed by strike action.'
The aggrieved Ealing early years workers range from nursery officers to nursery managers. They believed they had won an agreement for the pay increase when they met senior council officials last October, but they have not received written confirmation of this from the council.
The early years staff work in four nursery centres run by social services, and care for about 200 children who have special needs.
There have also been discussions about transferring the running of the nurseries from social services to the council's education department.
Mr Blake wrote to the director of children's services, Judith Finlay, outlining the situation. She responded that the council is currently reviewing the issue.
A spokesman for Ealing Council said he did not want to go into detail about the threat of nursery nurse strike action or the debate over pay scales. He added, 'There is a job review process that is not yet complete.'
