| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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Date: 31 March 2004 NURSERY NURSES MARK SUFFRAGETTE ANNIVERSARY WITH CHARLOTTE SQUARE VIGILEdinburgh's nursery nurses will leave their picket lines to join arms in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square (official residence of the First Minister) from 8.00am - 8.30am tomorrow 1 April 2004. 2004 marks the 90th anniversary of the first force-feeding in Scotland of a hunger-striking suffragette. Ethel Moorhead was force-fed in Edinburgh's Calton jail from February 1914 for several weeks before being released under 'cat and mouse' legislation that allowed hunger strikers to be released when ill, only to be re-arrested when they recovered. "We don't directly compare ourselves with the suffragettes but we do want Jack McConnell to get the clear message that it is not a 'small number of guys' leading this dispute - it is us, the nursery nurses who are predominantly - although not exclusively - women. UNISON's nursery nurses who have been taking the decisions all the way through", said Barbara Foubister, UNISON Edinburgh chairperson and a nursery nurse herself. "We do wonder, however, if the nursery nurse profession had been predominantly staffed by 'guys' - would they have had to put up with such low pay for so long?" "Instead of all the empty words from 'guys' in the Scottish Executive and CoSLA, we want some action, some real talks and a real attempt to resolve this national dispute. The suffragettes would not be silenced and neither will we", added Barbara. ENDS Further Information: Barbara Foubister 0776 394 0634 John Stevenson (Branch Secretary) 07876 795 018 UNISON Office 0131 220 565 |
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