Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): It is right and fitting to debate such important issues in the chamber this morning. We have just debated pensioner poverty and the scandal of winter cold-related deaths. We will now debate the council tax and the just case of Scotland's nursery nurses, about which my colleagues Frances Curran and Carolyn Leckie will say more. I simply say that it is a fact of life that the majority of poor pensioners are women. That is because women have been low paid for longer in their lives. Scotland's nursery nurse work force predominantly consists of women. They are fighting the scandal of low pay and deserve 100 per cent support from the people of Scotland.
Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP):"I appeal to the many people in the chamber who have trade union history and support and to those who shout about pay discrimination and the way in which women are undervalued.
Even if the full claim was won, nursery nurses would still be a full £7,000 a year behind the average male wage. The claim is just. All members know fine well the duty of solidarity.
They know that if there is no national settlement to the dispute while the nursery nurses are all on strike, they will be consigned to low and unequal pay for a very long time?they know what a strike means.
A review is double-speak for defeat. I urge members to vote for substance, not empty calories. I urge them to ask how the nursery nurses would want them to vote. They know what the issue is and they know how they would vote: they would vote for the SSP motion, unamended. We must not let them down. Victory to the nursery nurses!"
Did your MSP vote for the nursery nurses ?Only 1 Labour MSP,
Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok), voted in support of the Nursery Nurses.
3 others abstained; Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East), Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) and Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston).
The Full New Labour - Lib Dem coalition vote against the nursery nurses.The Presiding Officer: The result of the division is: For 70, Against 44, Abstentions 3
Amendment agreed to.
Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): Sell-out!
The Presiding Officer: Order. I do not welcome comments during decision time.
The day began with a visit by SSP MSP's to nursery nurses on an Edinburgh picket
"They chanted nursery rhymes for more than two hours. They blew whistles and horns. They banged tambourines.
"This was the biggest and noisiest demonstration of the parliamentary year so far. "
John Knox, BBC Scotland political correspondent
BBC News Online Report, 12/03/04
Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP): I welcome all the nursery nurses who are in the Parliament today and those who are lobbying outside at the moment. [Applause.] We are allowed to clap.
The Deputy Presiding Officer: You are.
Frances Curran: Some of us have no problem with applause from the balconies.
Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): I welcome all sister members of Unison who are in the public gallery. In particular, I welcome Joan and all the nursery nurses from North Lanarkshire, as well as all the special needs nursery nurses who are present. Like Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, I recognise the special job that they do. That is why they deserve more pay, which should be paid on a national basis. That is the reason why they are on strike.
It is an absolute disgrace that, after 16 years without a review, 10 months of intermittent strike action and two weeks of all-out strike, nursery nurses still do not have decent national pay for a highly skilled, professional, national job.
Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): Teachers, the police and nurses all have national pay for doing national jobs, albeit in different schools, police stations and hospitals. Councillors even want national pay for themselves. When Pat Watters gave evidence to the Local Government and Transport Committee to demand £25,000 a year for councillors, he was asked whether councillors in Glasgow and Edinburgh perhaps did a different job from councillors in Inverness and elsewhere. "Absolutely not," he said, "we need national pay." If national pay is good enough for Pat Watters, it is good enough for the nursery nurses.
And what about MSPs? We are all on national pay, yet we represent different local employers, who are the voters. If we were to put our pay out to local negotiations in our constituencies, how much would Bill Aitken or Euan Robson receive?
MSP's Block Wage Deal on Nursery's
Daily RecordHUNDREDS of striking nursery nurses lobbied MSPs yesterday but had their hopes of a national pay deal dashed.
Nurses from all over Scotland demonstrated outside the parliament from early in the morning.
But their appeals failed when MSPs voted against a motion calling for a national deal.
About 100 striking nurses cheered and clapped in the public gallery through the debate, called by the Tommy Sheridan-led Scottish Socialist Party.
SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie said: 'It's an absolute disgrace that nursery nurses after 16 years without a review, 10 months on intermittent strike action and two weeks on all-out strike still do not have a decent national pay rate for a highly skilled, professional, national job.'
She argued that since the parliament and Executive had set national standards for nursery nurses, they deserved a pay deal to match.
BBC News OnlineFirst Minister Jack McConnell has refused to intervene in the long-running nursery nurse pay dispute.
He spoke as striking nurses lobbied MSPs at Holyrood ahead of a parliamentary vote on their pay claim.
West of Scotland MSP Frances Curran led the debate for the SSP.
With about 100 nursery nurses in the public gallery, the mother-of-one told parliament: "I appreciate the time and care, day in and day out, that all of you invest in my son and thousands of children like him."
Ms Curran said the executive had given nursery nurses more duties and responsibilities but no more pay.
"It is a double standard, it is rich and it is utter hypocrisy," she said.
BBC News OnlineMSPs have been urged to support calls for the abolition of the council tax.
Scottish Socialist Party MSPs, like the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats, want the charge replaced with an income-based alternative.
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan claimed that the most recent opinion poll showed 77% of Scots were in favour of abolishing the charge.
Mr Sheridan led a debate on the tax at Holyrood on Thursday and said MSPs should reflect public opinion.
He urged all parties opposed to the charge to vote with the Socialists.
BBC News OnlineStriking nursery nurses are planning to lobby MSPs at Holyrood ahead of a parliamentary vote on their pay claim.
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is using its debating time to support the nursery nurses in their action.
BBC News OnlineThe Scottish Socialist Party is urging the first minister to intervene in the case of three Kurdish asylum seekers who are on hunger strike in Glasgow.
The men - who have stitched up their mouths - have written to Jack McConnell asking for a meeting.
On Wednesday, the SSP group will ask the first minister to make a statement on the case in parliament.
The ScotsmanTHE Scottish Executive is coming under increasing pressure from Labour MSPs to intervene in the nursery nurses dispute.
A growing number of Labour backbenchers look set to support a motion from the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) calling for a national settlement to end the strike.
Jack McConnell, the First Minister, has so far refused to get involved, calling on the unions and employers to negotiate local settlements on a council by council basis.
However, Scott Barrie, Cathy Peattie, Susan Deacon, Elaine Smith, Marlyn Glen and Margaret Jamieson, all Labour MSPs, have publicly supported calls for a national review of the role of nursery nurses - which would lead inevitably to national pay grades.
If the Executive doesn’t intervene before Thursday, when the Scottish Parliament will debate the SSP motion, Labour MSPs may well be prepared to embarrass ministers by voting for a national solution.
BBC News OnlineMen living in Scotland's most deprived areas can expect to die up to 10 years earlier than their average countrymen.
Life expectancy for men has increased by two years in the last decade apart for those in poverty hit places like Springburn and Shettleston in Glasgow.
Scottish Socialist Party national convener Tommy Sheridan used the figures to attack the executive's work on tackling poverty.
He said: "The fact that life expectancy is falling is further proof that current policies aimed at tackling poverty and the diet of our children are not working
"The executive must now face the fact that radical measures are needed to deal with the terrible problem of Scotland's health."
