Their trade union, Unison, has accused Ealing Council in west London of reneging on an agreement that would have resulted in significant pay rises and brought 46 staff, working in the council's four nursery centres - Disraeli, Hanbury, Hanwell and Windmill, - in line with other authority workers (News, 22 February).
Unison has arranged to discuss the pay issue with councillors at a meeting this week (13 March) and has said it will ballot members if guarantees are not received that the pay and grading deal will be reinstated. The council is also being threatened with legal proceedings in support of an equal pay claim for the workers affected.
Brian Blake, Ealing Unison convenor for the social services department, said, 'One of the most significant implications of this whole saga is the potential damage to good industrial relations within the department. This is especially important in view of the hard work during the last few years following the Government's critical review of aspects of the department's work in 1997 and the "culture of hopelessness" and poor management it described.
'More important is the lasting impression of nursery staff that they have been treated with utter arrogance and contempt.'
The union has also produced a briefing paper, Regrading or Degrading Nursery Workers, setting out the background to the dispute. The document concludes, 'The trade union respectfully asks the council to keep the pledge made by its officers on its behalf and make immediate arrangements for the revised pay and grading to be implemented in line with the agreement brokered with Unison. Failure to do so will only fuel concerns that the council does not care about the plight of low-paid women's work.'
