Unison estimated that 4,000 nursery nurse members walked out in protest last Wednesday and on Tuesday of this week. The union has been pressing Cosla, the councils' representative body, to negotiate a national settlement in the ongoing dispute before nursery nurses vote on an all-out strike later this month. Since making a recommended offer of around 9.33 an hour last autumn, Colsa has deferred negotiations to individual councils.
Carol Ball, chair of Unison's nursery nurse working party, said, 'It is outrageous that, rather than face up to their responsibilities, Cosla would rather nursery services faced shutdown. It is clearly a Scottish-wide responsibility, and Cosla is supposed to represent Scottish employers.'
She added, 'Nursery nurses are graded on the Scottish grade, our claim was submitted across Scotland and the increased duties and responsibilities are the same across Scotland.'
Unison said jobs were largely dictated by the Scotland-wide three-to-five curriculum and care standards monitored nationally by the Care Commission.
Forthcoming Executive policy that is currently under consultation would involve nursery nurses in monitoring child development through personal learning plans.
But Cosla spokesman David Kennedy said the job was not the same in the Highlands as it was in Dumfries. 'Different councils provide different early years services - it is not all education. Some are purely in nursery schools, while others are in community centres dealing with a wide range of social issues.'
Last week, first minister Jack McConnell urged both the union and the employers to get round the negotiating table to resolve the dispute and end the chaos being faced by thousands of parents.
