See text below.
EXCERPTS
On May 20, 2,500 nursery nurses at council-run nurseries in the west of Scotland began three one-day strikes to demand a 35-hour working week and a new pay deal in a long-running dispute.
The first day of the stoppage saw staff walk off the job in 13 local authority areas including Ayrshire, Inverclyde, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, and Shetland and Orkney. At Glasgow City Council, 120 nurseries were affected by the strike action.
Shortly after this, the strike spread to all of Scotland's local authorities and involved some 5,000 staff. The nursery nurses are campaigning for a £4,000-a-year pay rise.
In total around 400 council-run nurseries are expected to be hit by strike action. A boycott of extra duties will also be implemented.
There are some 7,500 nursery nurses working in Scotland's council-run nursery schools, day nurseries and special schools. Following a two-year childcare course in order to qualify to be a nursery nurse, starting salaries are just £10,000. This rises to just £13,800 a year at the top of the pay scale. There has been no review of nursery pay for 15 years.
-Reprinted from World Socialist Web Site