| UNISON City of Edinburgh Branch |
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14 February 2002 Nursery staff grading claim submitted to City of Edinburgh Council Edinburgh nursery nurses are to step up their campaign for a fair pay structure, by submitting a regrading claim to the City of Edinburgh Council on Monday 4 February. Their union, UNISON, says that CoSLA, Scotland's Local Government employers, have refused to discuss a claim to review nursery nurses' Scottish grades and conditions, last looked at in 1988. The same claim is being submitted to 32 Scottish councils to attempt to locally achieve a Scottish-wide grading for nursery nurses. This could end in disruption in different authorities if they fail to come to agreement. Barbara Foubister, UNISON Edinburgh nursery nurse spokesperson said, "We have been left with no alternative but to raise the same claim separately in each authority. Despite the fact that there are currently supposed to be Scottish-wide terms and conditions;and that the Scottish Executive have recently created a national framework for Nursery Nurses, the failure of CoSLA to accept their responsibilities means we have to pursue claims in all 32 authorities. "We are looking for Edinburgh to come up with the appropriate grading as their Scotland-wide body has failed to respond. Nursery nurses will be increasing the pressure on local authorities and their paymasters, the Scottish Executive." N ursery Nurses work in Edinburgh's nursery schools and classes, community nurseries and special schools. They want a four-level career structure, moving from nursery nurse grade up to head of establishment. They say this is needed both to reflect the increases in the duties of nursery staff since 1988. John Mulgrew, Edinburgh UNISON lead negotiator says, "Nursery nurses play a key role in the education of our young children. The Scottish Executive are keen to integrate that into a Scotland-wide network, so we will also be asking the Minister how this can happen if we end up with 30+ different sets of pay and conditions." ENDS Further Information |
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