Staff want uniform pay rates

Thousands of nursery nurses in Scotland have voted in favour of strike action.

The ballot followed a two-year campaign seeking a review of status and pay.

Carol Ball, chairwoman of Unison Scotland's nursery nurses working party, said the vote showed the strength of feeling over the issue.

The union plans six weeks of co-ordinated industrial action, starting on 20 May.

Almost 400 council-run nurseries will be affected by the mixture of strike action and a boycott of duties added to the job over the years.

Unison said premises would be forced to close on strike days, although individual nurseries would only be affected on two of the three days of action planned for next week.

I would call on Unison to suspend the industrial action to allow us to continue discussions Frank Russell Cosla

The body which represents the majority of Scotland's local authorities has urged the union to suspend the strike.

The union sent out 4,500 ballot papers asking members whether they were prepared to take strike action and/or industrial action short of a strike.

Almost two-thirds of those ballot papers were returned, with 90% of respondents voting yes to both questions.

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.

Ms Ball said that nursery nurses' pay had not been reviewed for 15 years.

National negotiations

"After the latest employers' rejection nursery nurses feel they have no choice but to take industrial action, to highlight our determination to achieve fair pay and address inequalities in our treatment," she said.

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

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 several years ago.

Personnel spokesman Frank Russell said that a strike would have a "tremendous impact" on the under-fives.

"We don't want that to happen and even at this stage I would call on Unison to suspend the industrial action to allow us to continue discussions," he said.