Nursery World - Nursery nurses win battle to stay on year-round contracts

Nursery nurse members of Unison in the London borough of Tower Hamlets are back at work this week after settling a long-running pay and grading dispute with the local authority, which involved three weeks of strikes in local schools. They were protesting at the council's decision to change their contracts from 52 weeks to term-time only, following a regrading exercise in April 2002, which put those working in schools on the same pay scale as those working in local authority children's centres.

They were protesting at the council's decision to change their contracts from 52 weeks to term-time only, following a regrading exercise in April 2002, which put those working in schools on the same pay scale as those working in local authority children's centres.

Nursery nurses won the battle to have their jobs re-evaluated again separately. They will now be on grade 5 of the pay scale, a grade below nursery nurses in children's centres, but stay on 52-week contracts.

Nursery nurses voted overwhelmingly to accept the proposal at a meeting last Friday (4 July). The settlement followed five hours of negotiations between Unison, the local authority employer and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) last Wednesday. Chris Connolly, Unison's assistant branch secretary for education in Tower Hamlets, said 'Our major victory is keeping and protecting our terms and conditions. It sets a precedent for other boroughs which are reviewing nursery nurse jobs.'

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