Diana Holland, national officer for women in the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and leader of its childcare organising campaign, said, 'Too often women's work, and particularly those working in the childcare sector, is undervalued. We welcome the fact that this Government regards childcare as an investment and not a cost.
'But it's not enough just to provide more facilities. We need a qualified, motivated and properly paid staff. The strike is not just about money - it's about improving the service and ensuring that staff stay in the sector.'
She added, 'It's no use having a short-term funding outlook when it comes to the pay of people working in childcare.'
Up to 750,000 council workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland took action last Wednesday, demanding a 6 per cent rise or an extra 1,750 a year, whichever is larger. The local authority employers have refused to increase their 'final' offer of 3 per cent, which striking nursery nurses said would amount to an increase of just 15p an hour.
Rosemary Plummer, a special needs teaching assistant at an Islington school, said, 'There are 23 of us on strike from our school and many are finding it hard to make ends meet. Some are single parents and they cannot afford childcare. All we hear from Mr Blair is that he wants to get women back to work, but where is the incentive?'
Ms Plummer said many teaching assistants got just 9,700 a year.
'That is not a living wage. It's barely enough to pay your rent and have anything left afterwards.' She added, 'We've got nothing against the councils, it's the Government that should pay us properly. We are the backbone of education in London. There will be more strikes if they do not offer us more.'
Bruni de la Motte, Unison national officer for education services, said the support for last week's national stoppage had been 'solid' and that the campaign for strike action had led to a flood of new recruits to the union from poorly-paid education support staff.
Diana Holland said that while organising staff in the private and voluntary sector she had come across employers who had actually asked the TGWU how much they should pay their staff. 'In fact, we've been able to secure quite decent pay rises because of this. It's indicative that so much of this type of care takes place behind the scenes, when of course it's so vital for the future of our children.'