28 May 2003

Nursery Nurses to lobby CoSLA

Striking Nursery Nurses from the Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders will lobby their employers at CoSLA on Thursday 29 May 2003 at around 11am at Roseberry House, Haymarket Terrace Edinburgh. They will meet at 10.30 at Edinburgh City Chambers in the High Street before boarding 'fun buses' to go to CoSLA.

"We hope it will be a day of songs (especially written), balloons and fun but with a serious message. We want direct and meaningful talks with our employers - not through the media; we want no talk of local job evaluations that do not exist and we want a fair basic wage for nursery nurses across Scotland. After 15 years, we are completely behind this claim", said Barbara Foubister, UNISON Edinburgh Branch Chair and a nursery nurse herself.

While this is the last of the current strike days in this area, other areas of Scotland will be carrying on the rolling programme of strikes across the country backed up by a boycott of additional duties.

"We have spread the strike across the country to keep disruption to children and parents in any one area to a minimum. We recognise inconvenience cannot be avoided but we know parents understand that this is not just about pay - it is also about the future of pre-school education and care", added Barbara.

UNISON commissioned a poll (carried out by System Three) recently (April 23 -29). Nearly 90% of Scots said they thought public services would not be delivered successfully unless staff are paid a fair wage and treated fairly. (67% agreed STRONGLY with that). It is quite clear that people do not think that between 10-14,000 pounds/an average of £13,000 plus a year is a fair wage for professionals who care for and educate their children.

NOTE: The UNISON Nursery Nurse ballot brought a bigger turnout than the Scottish Parliament elections. In a 64% return over 90% voted to take strike action and action short of strike action.

ENDS

Further Information

Barbara Foubister (Branch Chair) 0131 220 5655
John Stevenson (Branch Secretary) 07876 795 018
Joe Di Paola (Scottish Organiser - Local Govt) - 0845 355 0845(o) 07990 505 698(m)
Chris Bartter (Communications Officer) 0845 355 0845(w) 0771 558 3729(m)

Nursery Nurse Campaign pages

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