Staff have been on all-out strike for about seven weeks

Union leaders have agreed to look at the possibility of reaching settlements with individual councils, instead of holding out for a nationwide agreement.

The announcement was made by Unison, the union representing most of the 4,000 staff still on strike.

Twelve out of 32 local authorities have so far agreed deals in the dispute, which began in June 2003.

It started with a programme of two and three-day stoppages by staff across Scotland and escalated seven weeks ago into an all-out strike.

We hope that this welcome move can mean negotiations take place with nursery nurses leaving the picket line and going back to do the job we all value Cllr Frank Russell Cosla

Joe Di Paola, Unison's Scottish organiser for local government, said: "We are bitterly disappointed that Cosla has simply blocked all attempts to resolve this dispute nationally.

"The huge differences between the pay on offer range from �8.76 to �10.46 per hour.

"Branches will now seek local negotiations and we will be using this information to try to bring some fairness into nursery nurses' pay."

'Sensitive stage'

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

Councillor Frank Russell, spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, welcomed the announcement.

"There are still detailed negiotiations to take place at local level and we would not want to say anything further at this sensitive stage that might jeopardise the outcome of these negotiations," he added.

There have been protest marches throughout the strike

"We hope that this welcome move can mean negotiations take place with nursery nurses leaving the picket line and going back to do the job we all value."

Angela Lynes, chairwoman of Unison's negotiators, said: "It is not easy to move to local negotiations but we can no longer ask nursery nurses to continue to suffer in the face of the employers' intransigence."

She insisted the strike had been useful in reaching better local settlements.

"Nursery nurses have given their all, have ensured that their role in early-years education has been brought to the forefront of the public and have ensured that local deals will be better than they otherwise would have been."