Staff are lobbying their employers

The nursery nurses boarded "fun buses" outside Edinburgh City Chambers to travel to the headquarters of Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities).

The action came as council-run facilities in Lothians and Borders were targeted for a second day of strike action.

Staff in other parts of Scotland will be carrying on the rolling programme of walkouts backed up by a boycott of additional duties.

"We want a fair basic wage for nursery nurses across Scotland," said Barbara Foubister, Unison Edinburgh branch chair.

Ms Foubister, a nursery nurse, said: "After 15 years, we are completely behind this claim.

"We have spread the strike across the country to keep disruption to children and parents in any one area to a minimum.

Breakdown of talks

"We recognise inconvenience cannot be avoided but we know parents understand that this is not just about pay - it is also about the future of pre-school education and care," she said.

Ms Foubister added: "The turnout is excellent. The strength of feeling on this issue is very very strong, and we are not going to go away.

"We hope to get round the table as quickly as possible and get a speedy outcome."

Staff in Scotland's 5,000 council-run nurseries have been demanding more pay after the breakdown of talks with employers.

Union members voted to take industrial action following a long-running campaign for a review and reassessment of their pay.

Nursery nurses, who are paid about �13,000 a year, want an increase of about �4,000 a year to reflect the extra duties they say they have had to undertake.

Cosla has repeatedly urged union officials to end the strike action and return to the negotiating table.