Liverpool nursery workers who lost jobs after striking call for solidarity in sector
A group of early years workers who lost their jobs without warning days after a one-day strike have called on others in the sector to “stand up and be counted”.
More than 50 staff, thought to be the first group of early years workers to have their union recognised in England, were put out of work, leaving 200 families scrambling to find childcare, when the Orchard nursery in Huyton, Merseyside, closed suddenly.
Standing outside the chained gates of the nursery, where a laminated sign states that the nursery will be closed permanently and tells staff to “contact your union”, Marie Darwin, a former staff member, said it was time for workers in the low-paid sector to stick together, “because if this can happen to us today, it can happen to you tomorrow”.
Former staff at the Huyton nursery said they had joined the Unison union after struggling to survive on low wages amid high staff turnover. Some had second jobs, while others were using food banks and borrowing from friends and family to survive, said one, Gill Ravenscroft. “We just literally could not live on the wages we had,” she said.
After being recognised as members of the union when more than 70% of staff joined up, staff went on strike for a day, on budget day. Two days later, on 17 March, the nursery closed its doors.
Experts and unions have said that the nursery closure should act as a warning to ministers about the how precarious the sector and its staffing crisis is, even before a big expansion in government-subsidised childcare announced in the spring budget.
The first parents knew of the closure was when they read signs on the gates the next morning, apologising for “any inconvenience caused”.
The impact was more than inconvenient, said Becci Sanders, whose
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