 Councils have reached local deals despite Unison's plea |
Glasgow City Council has written to its 1,200 nursery nurses in an effort to end the current pay dispute. The council has acted after failing to reach agreement with public sector union Unison.
In September about 5,000 nursery nurses walked out of pay talks with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).
Unison has called for a national pay settlement but Cosla said this would not be possible and four other councils have since reached local agreements.
Nursery nurses working for Perth and Kinross, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen and Shetland Island councils have all resolved their pay dispute.
Joe di Paola, from UNISON, said he is confident the offer in Glasgow will be rejected. He said: "Cosla has to understand that we want to talk to them seriously to settle the dispute, but we need to get together on an all-Scotland basis."
But Steve Purcell, Glasgow City Council Education Services Convener, said nursery nurses should seize the offer before it was too late.
He told BBC Scotland: "Cosla have made it quite clear that there will be no nationwide settlement. The financial situation differs with local authorities across the country so not every local authority can afford to give the same deal.
"Time is beginning to run out to put a deal together for the next financial year. Councils are beginning to go through the budget process and this deal would involve a six figure settlement - if we don't make provision for that in the coming budget then another year could be lost before we can make a settlement."
He added: "Reaching an agreement is an outcome we want to achieve as quickly as possible.
"In effect, the offer would mean increases for nursery staff varying from 3.1% to 14.8%, which would be in addition to the 4% increase the nursery nurses, like other members of staff, received in April 2003."
Selective strikes
Nursery nurses say they have not had a pay review for 15 years, despite having to learn additional skills and having extra duties forced upon them.
The maximum salary for a fully qualified nursery nurse with eight years' experience is �13,800, with a minimum salary of �10,000.
Cosla offered a top salary of �18,000 a year, but Unison said the offer was unacceptable.
Cosla president Pat Watters said 20 of Scotland's 32 local authorities were moving closer to pay deals.
But Unison said selective strike action would continue until a national pay deal was found.
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Reaching an agreement is an outcome we want to achieve as quickly as possible 
