More than 150 people, mainly low-paid women, took part in the strike, which lasted 14 weeks.
Their story is told by the childcare workers, carers and parents who took part in the 1984 strike in a new series of the podcast Childcare Voices.
The striking workers united behind the slogan ‘one to four and not one more’ to call for higher staff-to-children ratios in council-run nurseries.
Early years expert and Nursery World Awards winner Julia Manning-Morton was one of these women.
‘We were fighting for better conditions for the children in our care as well as for ourselves. That’s just as important today as it was then,’ she said.
‘Like many nursery workers now, we were some of the lowest paid workers in the borough. We linked up with the miners, who were also on strike at the time.’
The strikers challenged their employer, Islington council, which was led by Margaret Hodge, to fulfil their election promise to improve conditions in the council’s Children’s Day Centres, nurseries run by Social Services.
An original poster from the 1984 Islington nursery workers strike
These centres provided daycare for some of the most vulnerable children in the area yet were often dangerously understaffed.
During the strike parents showed their support for the nursery workers by holding a sleepover with their children in Islington Town Hall. ‘Sit in Babes Back Strike’ was the headline in local paper the Islington Gazette.
Taking place in the same year as the more well-known strike by the miners, the nursery workers spoke on the same platform as Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.
A visiting delegation of miners’ wives had tea with the mayor on the steps of the town hall rather than cross the nursery workers’ picket line. In the end 400 union members from other council departments joined the strike in support of the nursery workers.
The strike ended after 15 weeks when a ratio of one nursery worker to every four and a half children was agreed with the council, among other improvements.
However, in 1989 the nursery workers were out on strike again in an attempt to keep staff to child ratios at the agreed level.
The podcast producers are drawing on their own professional and personal experiences of early childhood education and care.
One of the producers who has worked in early childhood education said, ‘During my career, I have seen pressures on nursery staff increase to almost unmanageable levels. Last year, in response to a plan to make redundancies, trade union members in my nursery voted to strike.
'It feels unjust that as levels of need and childhood poverty have risen, capacity in quality public nursery provision such as mine has reduced. Because of my experience, I was very keen to explore the history of the Islington Nursery Strike.’
The story of the strike is being told through a podcast mini-series, produced by a group of childcare workers and parents. The episodes will be released on the Childcare Voices podcast, which won silver in the grassroots production category at the 2024 Audio Production Awards (Audio UK).
Run by On the Record, the project has trained a group of parents and childcare workers to produce the podcast series in collaboration with the nursery workers who went on strike.
Among the nine researchers who made the podcast episodes are nursery workers, playworkers, nannies, trade unionists, community organisers and local parents and carers.
Tom Foxall, Historic England regional director, said, ‘There are so many hidden histories to uncover here in London. Every community has a story to tell and we want to hear them. This is the strength of our Everyday Heritage grant programme, which funds projects that are community-led and really engage with local people by empowering them to research and tell their own stories.’
- Listen to the podcast here: https://shows.acast.com/childcare-voices
PHOTOS Julia Manning-Morton
