The meeting, which took place on 7 April at the headquarters of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) in Edinburgh, was the first time since last summer that face-to-face discussions have taken place between the two sides.
Angela Lynes, chair of Unison's negotiators, said afterwards, 'The talks were helpful and we hope they will resume in the near future.' CoSLA also described the talks as 'helpful'.
First minister Jack McConnell recently described the two sides' failure to reach an agreement as 'a national disgrace'. He has refused to back the demand for a national deal, but has said that there would be a review after the nursery nurses return to work, which could lead to the possibility of a national settlement.
Speaking before the meeting, Carol Ball, chair of Unison's nursery nurse working party, said the strike was 'about staying out for a principled national offer'.
CoSLA is urging Unison branches to make local agreements, but Unison is holding out for a national pay offer. So far, deals have been struck in 12 of Scotland's 32 local authorities.
Striking nursery nurses dressed as suffragettes in Dundee's City Square on 1 April to dramatise their campaign, while others in Edinburgh held a vigil in Charlotte Square. They were commemorating the 90th anniversary of the imprisonment of Ethel Moorhead, a hunger-striking suffragette who was force-fed in Calton jail in Edinburgh for several weeks.
Barbara Foubister, Unison's Edinburgh chair, said, 'We don't directly compare ourselves with the suffragettes but we do want Jack McConnell to get the clear message that it is not a "small number of guys" leading this dispute - it is us, the nursery nurses who are predominantly although not exclusively women.'
On 1 April, the nursery nurses' dispute was debated in the Scottish Parliament for the third time since October. The members' debate was led by Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, who said the level of pay for nursery nurses was 'a national disgrace'.
She added, 'If we value our children, their education and welfare, then that must be reflected in the value we place on nursery nurses. We must have a national review, we must have it soon, and it must be adequately resourced.'
