Efforts to avert the threatened strike by nursery day-care staff in the Eastern Health Board area from Wednesday are expected today, writes Padraig Yeates, Industry and Employment Correspondent.
The workers are members of IMPACT and are seeking a pay rise to give them parity with day-care workers in the Department of Education's new Early Start project.
Twenty nurseries are involved in the dispute. They employ 20 managers and 100 staff. Managers earn up to £245 a week and other staff between £165 and £200. Pay in the Early Start project ranges from £180 a week to £260. They are due a further increase shortly.
The Labour Court has already issued a recommendation in favour of the IMPACT members. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that the day-care staff are not employed directly by the EHB, but by community-based initiatives sponsored and funded by it.