Update March 2015
UNISON Nursery Nurse Working Group - a voice for members
The Branch has set up a Nursery Nurse Working Group to give members a voice in dealing with the impact of the government’s changes to deliver 600 hours nursery provision to each child.
Two Nursery Nurse members’ meetings were held in February to discuss these changes and their effect on our members and the services they provide.
UNISON members have had their administration time and their lunch breaks reduced to enable the extra hours to be delivered within their 35 hour working week.
The Working Group will now be sending a report to Aberdeenshire Council to highlight the issues around the 600 hours and the current situation which has seen the removal of teaching staff. The group would ideally like a voice and practitioner representation on the Early Years groups.
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| Susan Kennedy |
Assistant Branch Secretary, Susan Kennedy, who is leading on this campaign said, “These changes have had a huge impact on communication, planning, setting up, cleaning and even on staff getting their lunch break.
“Our members’ workloads and stress levels have been further increased by the removal of Nursery Teaching staff at several locations, whereas yet no concrete measures have been put into place to compensate and for which we await a formal consultation.
“Our Aberdeenshire UNISON members all have the knowledge and experience within the nursery settings, yet neither the Government or the Council have seen fit to properly recognise the importance of their views or worth over Early Years changes.”
Susan added, “The working group is open to all our Nursery Nurse members and we are always happy to welcome new members. More meetings are being planned over the next few months across all the CSN’s, and details will be emailed out and advertised on the website. The ‘group email’ itself has been an invaluable tool for sharing information and dealing with various issues swiftly.”
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