| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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11 May 2004 Edinburgh nursery nurses reject offer and warn council against prolonging disputeEdinburgh's nursery nurses, members of UNISON, have rejected the council's latest offer by six to one in a secret ballot. The union is now calling on the council to get round the table urgently to try to resolve the dispute. "We have told the council over and over again that their offer would not be accepted but they insisted we balloted. We have turned the ballot round in record time to try to avoid being on strike one more day than necessary but it has still been wasted time. Perhaps now at last the council will believe what we have been telling them all along after three hand votes at packed meetings, a ballot at a meeting of 300 members an now this postal ballot - their offer is just not enough for nursery nurses", said John Stevenson, UNISON Edinburgh Branch Secretary. "The City of Edinburgh Council prolonged the dispute by insisting on local deals instead of the national deal we wanted. Now they are complaining that nursery nurses are comparing Edinburgh's offer with the better settlements in Midlothian and six other councils. But that's what you get when you insist on local deals. A nursery nurse is a nursery nurse whether they work in Edinburgh or East Dunbartonshire, why should there be a £800 difference in pay?" asked Barbara Foubister, UNISON Chairperson and a Nursery Nurse herself. "Edinburgh made a great play out of saying they could do better locally than the national framework. Well they haven't and they are prolonging the dispute". Escalation concern In a concerning move, UNISON has learned that Edinburgh is to ship in 10 supply teachers to St Crispins Special School at a cost of some £17,000 per week to break the strike. "We are worried at the effect this will have. Teachers should not be doing nursery nurse work. Apart from that, if the council has this amount of money to spend, it should put it into resolving the dispute rather than prolonging it", added Mr Stevenson. Nursery Nurses are expected to re-instate their picket at St Crispin's tomorrow in response to this. ENDS Further Information John Stevenson 07876 795 018 Barbara Foubister 07763 940 634 |
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