Thousands of nursery nurses are still on strike

BBC Scotland has learned that the public sector union Unison agreed a local deal which would give nurses at the top of their grade �16,000.

The new pay agreement will be backdated to October 2002.

Eleven out of 32 local authorities have now settled, despite Unison's national leaders saying members should hold out for a Scotland-wide deal.

Thousands of nursery nurses have been on all-out strike for almost three weeks.

The industrial action is part of an ongoing dispute about pay.

News of the Aberdeenshire settlement came on Friday, the day after First Minister Jack McConnell hinted at the possibility of a national review of pay and conditions for those who work with pre-school age children.

At Holyrood question time on he said "at the right time there would be a case for a national review".

Sides at loggerheads

But he insisted an independent inquiry would not take place while nursery nurses remained on strike.

And Mr McConnell said he would not bow to pressure by Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan and personally intervene in the all-out strike, which is in its third week.

Unison and the local government umbrella group, Cosla, have been at loggerheads since 2003 over current pay and conditions.

At present nursery nurses earn about �13,000 a year but they want an extra �4,000 to reflect additional duties they have had to undertake.

Unison has criticised local deals because it fears they could lead to fluctuations in nursery nurses' salaries.

The union rejected an offer from Cosla which would enable fully-qualified nurses to earn �18,000 a year.

Cosla has said local deals are the only way to resolve the current dispute.