Nursery staff want a career structure

Representatives of 5,000 nursery nurses who are members of the trade union Unison have requested a ballot on industrial action.

The nursery staff have been campaigning for two years for a review of their status and pay.

However, the body which speaks for Scotland's 32 councils has said that Unison itself withdrew from a national pay negotiating agreement several years ago.

Carol Ball, chairwoman of Unison's Scottish nursery nurse working party, said staff were "rapidly coming to the end of their tether".

Identical pay claims

"After pressing Scotland's employers to sit down with us to look at the issue we have been handed a report that takes us precisely nowhere," she said.

There are 7,500 nursery nurses working in Scotland's council-run nursery schools, day nurseries and special schools.

However, they are paid different rates in different establishments and in different parts of the country.

Last year, Unison submitted identical pay claims to each of the 32 local authorities.

Further union talks

The union asked for a four-level career structure, with salaries ranging from �16,000 to �20,000 a year and staff working a 35-hour week.

At that time, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), which represents Scotland's councils, said that the union itself pulled out of national negotiations.

The union will now have more detailed discussions on the form of action proposed before setting the ballot process in motion.