nursery nurses - action against pay cuts
WORKERS, SEPT 2005 ISSUE
A WELL supported one-day strike by Dudley Council's nursery nurses and teaching assistants took place in July. The action by Unison members in the West Midlands borough followed a "Schools Remodelling" proposal by the employers which had unsatisfactory pay grades and, worst of all, proposals to stop paying nursery nurses during the summer break. The pay cut would vary between £1,000 and £3,000, according to the grade.
The plans were rejected in a ballot, and later a second ballot approved industrial action by 4 to 1 — an initial one-day strike, followed by selected action.
The employers' proposal protected the pay of those currently employed, but it would be cut as soon as any of them changed job by moving school or even within the school. The cut would also mean that new entrants would be paid less, extending the two-tier workforce. Already, unqualified teaching assistants are not paid during the summer break.
The employers want to stop paying during the holidays altogether. In some councils, such as Solihull in the West Midlands, this has been done through the "single status" pay agreement, using equality as the argument. Dudley nursery nurses have shown clearly that their idea of equality is for unqualified teaching assistants to get pay during the summer holidays, not for them to lose it. Many other Unison branches have already taken up the initiative.