NURSERIES: the fight grows

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Found one goes to Wandsworth sit-in NO BROTHER, YOU'VE GOT IT WRONG. ITS NOT ACTION IT'S MORE A QUESTION OF. "PERMISSION GRANTED"

TUG Nearly 300 parents and children demonstrated in Ealing on Saturday against the Tories' decision to end the provision of education for the under-5s.

Over 3,000 children will be affected, the number of nursery places will be halved (at present 200 full-time and 1,400 part-time), teachers and ancillary workers will be made redundant and classes will be larger.

At the beginning of the year parents affected formed a group called the Ealing 3-5 Education Action Group (E3-5AG) and at their first public meeting, on ¡March 6 they drew an audience At Leicester on Tuesday. April 22 a meeting was called to form a Nursery Campaign against the proposed redundancies of nursery nurses, freezing of nursery places and closure of some nurserias.

Speakers included Gill Blackwell, from the Oxford City Nursery Campaign, Carole Ralph from the Save Our Nurseries Campaign in Nottingham, Nick Butler from the NUT and a speaker from the West The Nightingale Lane Day Nursery is now in its seventh week of occupation, despite some setbacks in having gas services turned off a few weeks ago.

Last week the occupiers scored a point off Wandsworth Borough Council in of all places the High Court-not an arena 'renowned for sympathetic hearings for the working class.

The decision was mainly round a legal technicality since the Council's legal advisors had fáiled to carry out the proper procedure for securing an eviction..

The Council has been ordered by the Judge to return next Friday with the proper procedure carried out.

Ironically the Nursery occupiers were represented by the •Wandsworth Legal Resource .. AND BY THE WA YOU PROPOSE TO S1 5% WITH STRII NEAT, ISNT IT?.. IF IT'$ BIG, I'LL GET THE CREDIT -IF IT'S SMALL, EVEN BETTER, ana To DeANE THE MCMRID ELID III ILL JUDI BLAME INE MIENIDERUMIT OP I IGS ALL, WHAT ACTION JARDES FROM IMPOSIN of over 700.

At that meeting the group urged the audience to march to Ealing Town Hall on March 11° to join with the NUT in their half-day strike.

The Campaign needs to be strengthened by the active involvement of all trade unions and trades councils in the Borough and the local Labour The only councillor to speak af the rally was Drabwell, an ex-Tory turned independent: but where were the Labour councillors?

The Labour Group has verbally pledged to restore the cuts if and when they regain control of the council.

sie' Leicestershire Nursery Campaign. • In the audience of over 7,0 were preople representing the parents action group, the women's sub-committee of the trades council, teaching and ancillary staff from both social service and education nurseries and branch officers of NALGO.

Also: the NUT Division in Leicester had decided that day to support strike action on May 14 and would be making nursery provision a major focus on the demonstration thaț would take place.

Project-which because of cuts has itself had a number of law centres closed down.

'Not fair' The solicitor acting on behalf of Wandsworth accused the occupiers' solicitor of 'not playing fair', ', by failing to inform him that the legal technicality would be used in court, and quoting a previous case prior to the Criminal Trespass Act.

The Judge however stated that any solicitor aware of the law would have knowledge of this ruling.

Although the occupation has won this briet, reprieve it 1s highly unlikely that the Judge will fail to grant the repossession order.

In contrast to the nursery occupation, the campaign to save the Winstanley Junior Library which was occupied on The Campaign is urging parents to organise PTA meetings in the week of May I. In preparation for an all-day vigil outside the Town Hall on May 19.

While petitions and lobbies are important the parents must start thinking in terms of what action to, take if all else fails.

Action must be taken now if it is not to be too late to stop the 182 proposed redundancies of teachers in the borough.

Pressure from the Campaign needs to be applied to NUT officials, demanding to know what they, together with other public sector unions, intend doing to safeguard their members' jobs and services.

In contrast the NALGO representatives were still seeking consultations with the Council on the proposed redundancies! :

NALGO, it was said, was not instructing its members to support May 14, since they would be "unlikely to come out"! There must be many NALGO members wishing they could decide on such questions instead of having it decided for them.

A further meeting was planned to form the Nursery Campaign after hearing what other areas have managed to do. the same day 'was not legally represented, and has not taken up offers of joint demonstrations and events-like gate crashing the Easter Parade at Battersea.

At the High Court on Friday their campaign (comprising and led by a few vicars) kept at more than arm's length from the nursery demonstration and dressed up as Wombles.

High Court The nursery occupation is calling for support on their demonstration at the High Court, the Strand, around 12 o'clock on Friday 2 May.

Letters of support and donations should be sent to:

Nightingale Lane Day Nursery Occupation, c/o Nightingale Lane, London SW12. 'ACTION?. WHAT ACTION? IT'S MORE A QUESTION. OF "PERMISSION GRANTED"!

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