Helen Dickson has been a nursery nurse for 17 years

The 37-year-old said she was fed up of being in an undervalued and underpaid profession.

Helen, a nurse at the East Renfrewshire-run Madras Nursery in Neilston, has worked with pre-school children for the last 17 years.

She started on a salary of �5,438 and now earns �13,896 - an average rise of less than �450 per year.

"Parents entrust to me the most important people in their lives," she said.

"They hope that I will help them in giving their children the best start in life and that is what we nursery nurses try and do.

'Not fair'

"If I was a single person, I would not be able to get a mortgage, I would not be able to afford to run a car and life would be pretty grim.

"A large number of nursery nurses have another job, typically working in bars at night. Our salaries are not fair ones."

The nursery nurses began striking on Tuesday and will continue a rolling programme of strikes, affecting different areas of the country, over an indefinite period.

There is a real sense of achievement to witness a baby become a small person who is ready to go into full time school Helen Dickson

Through their public sector union, Unison, they are demanding a �4,000 a year pay increase, reflecting additional responsibilities they say they have had to undertake.

The local authority employer, Cosla, said it was disappointed that the staff had taken the action.

But Helen and her colleagues maintain they have a strong case for being given more money.

She said: "We feel undervalued by the government and by our employers Cosla.

"There has been a big push on pre-school education and that has meant nursery nurses doing more and more. The paperwork is immense and we now have to assess children and record those assessments.

"The attitude of our employer has been that's your job, so get on with it.

Difficult for parents

"We are not prepared to take any more. We have been vocal about this for the last three years and we have not got anywhere and that is why it is right to strike.

"We will strike until something better is placed on the negotiating table."

Helen, who has an SNNEB qualification in childcare, says the support of parents is keeping the nursery nurses going.

"We know that strike makes it difficult for parents, it also makes it difficult for our members. But we also know that parents support us.

Striking workers protested in Glasgow

"When we were on the picket line one of our parents brought coffee and cakes to keep us going. The local church hall also opened its doors so we could get refreshments and us the toilets.

"We have a special needs establishment which has been affected by the strike and yet parents are 100% behind us," said Helen, who has no children of her own.

After her many years as a nursery nurse, Helen is now considering leaving the profession. She wants to continue in the childcare sector and is thinking about going into social care.

But her disillusionment with her bosses has not diminished her love for her job.

"Every day is different. I love watching the children master something that you know you have helped them master. There is a real sense of achievement to witness a baby become a small person who is ready to go into full time school.

"Only the other day I met an 18-year-old I had cared for as a baby and she is now ready to go to university to study nursing."