As Unison nursery nurse members were due to walk out on indefinite strike from Monday across most of Scotland, union leaders maintained that they had presented a consistent message throughout the long-running dispute and denied claims that they were ignoring pay offers from individual councils.
A report published last week by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) claimed that the nursery nurses wanted the same pay for working 39 weeks a years as for working 52 weeks a year, regardless of the nature of the work they did. It said, 'We must recognise the differences between those working throughout the year with the most vulnerable children in difficult environments compared to those in mainstream education.'
CoSLA also accused Unison of moving the goalposts and ignoring pay offers made by individual councils.
But Carol Ball, head of Unison's nursery nurses working party, said that the nursery nurses wanted equal pay, but on a pro-rata basis, so there would be a difference of 3,700 in the annual pay between those working 39 weeks and those working 52 weeks a year. She said councils were not bettering the pay rise recommended by CoSLA that Unison rejected last autumn.
Ms Ball said, 'The only one offering slightly more is Stirling, and they are not totally settled because they have not agreed a job description. They are offering us what we have already rejected.'
Ms Ball also pointed out that Frank Russell, an Edinburgh councillor, was on the technical working group that had put together CoSLA's recommended offer, but that he had offered Edinburgh's nursery nurses less.
She said, 'That's the sort of thing we face. It is absolute nonsense that councils have put an offer on the table.'
The CoSLA document maintained that the dispute should be settled at a local level, because the nature of the nursery nurses' work differed depending on local needs.
But Ms Ball disagreed. 'They all have to do the same educational curriculum; they all have the same care standards,' she said. 'I would question that those in social work settings are the only ones to deal with vulnerable children. We have those that need protection. There is nothing markedly different from what they are delivering. Just one is open longer than the other.'
Eight councils out of 32 have now made local settlements with nursery nurses, including East Renfrewshire and Falkirk last week.
CoSLA president Pat Watters said, 'All Scotland's councils have been willing to sit down and thrash out a deal locally with Unison for over a year. It is entirely possible to settle this dispute and this clearly illustrates the only way forward for Unison.'
Last year CoSLA recommended a minimum pay rise of 6.7 per cent, with some receiving up to 12.5 per cent, backdated to 1 April 2003 with no change to their current working arrangements. Mr Watters said, 'We now have eight councils that have reached agreement. The other 24 remain extremely keen to meet with Unison in an attempt to
settle this dispute. We would encourage local branches to accept this opportunity.'
Unison has long argued that its agreement to negotiate locally was now void, because councils had failed to produce the job evaluations that they had committed themselves to.
