Unison backs off call for national pay deal

At a meeting last week the public services trade union agreed that it would be investigating offers across local authorities in an attempt to end the dispute, which began on 1 March. Local pay deals have already been agreed with 15 of Scotland's 32 local authorities. The latest to settle are East Dunbartonshire, Midlothian and North Lanarkshire.

Angela Lynes, chair of the negotiators, spoke of the difficulty Unison faced in agreeing to move to local negotiations, but said it could no longer ask the striking nursery nurses to 'continue to suffer in the face of the employers' intransigence'.

She added that the nursery nurses would remain on strike until satisfactory local offers were made, and ensured that 'local deals will be better than they otherwise would have been'.

Joe Di Paola, Unison's Scottish organiser for local government, insisted that the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) had 'pig-headedly' refused to accept the sense of this situation, 'despite the overwhelming justice of the case for a national grade'. He said that offers from local authorities varied widely, with the lowest offer at 8.76 an hour and the highest at Pounds 10.46 an hour.

But some nursery nurses have criticised Unison's move. A member of Dundee Unison, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of her anger at the way the head officials at the union had not consulted the nursery nurses over the decision to re-enter negotiations with CoSLA over local deals.

She said, 'They have sold us down the river by suggesting that we back down.'

The Dundee nursery nurse added that the 'Dundee girls' had rejected their local offer on the grounds that although the pay offer was acceptable, the conditions attached to it were not. She warned nursery nurses to look closely at the conditions of the offer before balloting and said that they would 'remain strong and united in this fight'.

Kate Leiper, secretary for the Angus branch of Unison, said that she was 'disgusted' with CoSLA and the Scottish Executive for 'shirking their responsibilities' and that the Angus nursery nurses would now be looking for a 'reasonable' local settlement.

Politicians were unhappy too. Scottish Socialist Party MSP Carolyn Leckie said that it was clear that the Labour Party, CoSLA and the Scottish Executive were desperate to find a 'get out of jail free' card prior to the European elections.

She added, 'The only acceptable "get out of jail" card is a settlement that is acceptable to nursery nurses across the board.

'The nursery nurses will not forget that it was Labour politicians in the Scottish Parliament who sold them down the river on two occasions.'

CoSLA has been urging Unison branches to make local agreements for the duration of the strike, but Unison had been determined to hold out for a national pay offer.

Delegates at the Scottish TUC annual conference last week backed a motion calling on the Scottish Executive to formulate a national strategy for the early years, which would be comprehensive and provide free, universal full-time education, and insisted that nursery nurses providing the service should be properly paid.

Mr Di Paola said he wanted the Executive to set up its review into the pre-five sector as soon as possible. 'It is clear that to ensure that government plans are delivered, they need the nursery nurses' co-operation.

It will require more than politicians' platitudes to deliver that now,' he added.