Draft:1984 Islington nursery strike

• Comment: A lot of these paragraphs go unreferenced. Bobby Cohn 🍁 (talk) 14:51, 2 July 2025 (UTC)

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The Islington nursery strike began on 16 April 1984, when 154 nursery workers employed by the London Borough of Islington began a period of indefinite strike action, in response to the council's refusal to accept their demands for a 20% increase in pay, improved staffing ratios, and 70 more staff. At the time, the nursery workers had a take-home pay of £85 per week. The strike lasted 15 weeks and closed all 12 of the social service run nurseries and day centres. It was led by the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO) and the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) against the local authority of Islington. Demonstrations were often held at Islington's Town Hall. The strike ended on 30 July and resulted in improved working conditions and staff-to-child ratios of 1:4. The 1984 Islington nursery strike was later the subject of a three-part audio documentary series, Nursery Workers Bite Back, produced by On the Record.

Background

Election of a Labour administration in the London Borough of Islington

In 1982, a Labour administration was elected to the London Borough of Islington on a left-wing manifesto that included proposals to make early childhood education and care universally available and free of charge. The manifesto outlined plans to improve staff-to-child ratios in council-run nurseries and included commitments to ensure that childcare workers received adequate pay, access to training opportunities, and professional support.

Unworkable conditions

In the early 1980s, Islington Council's Children's Day Centres were operated by the Social Services department and primarily provided day care for children referred by social workers or health visitors, often due to factors such as single parenthood. Although the centres were intended to support vulnerable children and families, they were chronically understaffed. While the official staffing ratio was one worker to every four and a half children, the absence of cover for staff leave frequently resulted in individual workers being solely responsible for groups of twelve or more young children.

The Nursery Strikers setting off to march from Highbury House to Islington's Town Hall with a banner that reads "Hard Work Deserves Decent Pay, More Staff Means Safer Play"

Nursery staff were among the lowest-paid employees in the council workforce. The majority of workers were women, with a significant proportion from Black and minoritised backgrounds. Staff without a National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB) qualification received lower pay, irrespective of their length of service. According to accounts from nursery workers, Black staff were often disproportionately affected by this qualification requirement, sometimes earning less than younger white colleagues who held the NNEB despite having more extensive experience in nursery work.

NALGO claim

Despite the commitments made in the Labour council's 1982 manifesto, by 1983 few tangible improvements had been implemented. In October 1983, the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO) submitted a formal claim on behalf of nursery workers employed by Islington Council. The claim called for improved staff-to-child ratios, higher pay, a regrading of the pay structure, and the removal of the qualifications bar. Nursery workers stated these changes would be "an investment in our children's future".

Admissions ban announced

In an effort to increase pressure on the council, nursery workers initiated an admissions ban on 12 March 1984, during which they refused to accept new children into the nurseries until their demands were addressed. A leaflet distributed to parents at the time stated that the action was intended to secure "better care for your children." A month later, still no progress had been made. A delegation of the nursery workers went to a 'Local Joint Committee' meeting, on Monday 9 April 1984 to discuss their claim. The Council made them a small offer that did not meet the main demands of their claim.

The Strike

Strike action begins

An official NALGO picket

The Islington Nursery Strikers on a march in 1984

On 10 April 1984, a mass meeting was held and the nursery workers voted almost unanimously to strike. The strike began shortly afterwards, on Monday 16 April 1984. Immediately the nurseries were closed. Pickets were organised and quickly moved beyond the closed nurseries to more prominent locations such as the housing office on Essex Road, the municipal offices on Upper Street and Islington Town Hall. In the Spare Rib, strikers described the difficult decision to strike, "those worst hit are not the council, who have consistently refused to take our demands seriously, but the women and children we service".

The Strike News

Examples of The Strike News

During the 1984 Islington Nursery Strike, strikers produced and distributed The Strike News once a week using a printing machine supplied by a community-run printmakers on Holloway Road. The news was a means to share key information and maintain morale amongst nursery strikers.

Occupation of Islington Town Hall

At the end of April, a group of parents occupied Islington's Town Hall with their children by camping in the lobby, as reported in Strike News 3 and The Guardian newspaper. At the time of publication, the parents remained in the council chamber and intended to stay for a second night, although it was reported that security personnel had employed what were described as "heavy-handed tactics". The Islington Gazette, typically critical of the strike, covered the occupation with the headline "Sit-in Babes Back Strike!" According to a leaflet circulated nine weeks into the strike, the occupation continued for three days.

Disruption at Highbury Fields Swimming Pool

At the end of May, the striking nursery workers attracted local media attention by disrupting the opening ceremony of the new Highbury Fields swimming pool. According to Strike News 4, approximately 25 strikers "marched noisily round the pool", causing embarrassment to the councilors and local dignitaries in attendance. Actor David Yip declined to participate in the ceremony as a gesture of support for the strike.

Tea with the Miners' Wives

In early June, a delegation of miners' wives from Kent were invited to Islington Town Hall to meet the Mayor, Rosie Dale, as a gesture of support for the ongoing miners' strike. They refused to cross the nursery workers' picket line and so had tea with the Mayor, and the striking nursery workers, on the front steps of the hall instead.

Islington NALGO branch one-day strike

A NALGO picket with the Nursery Strikers and other Lloyd Square staff

On Monday 21 May, the Islington branch of the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO), which had approximately 2,000 members, held a one-day strike. According to Strike News 6, the action received broad support from the membership, with pickets reportedly present at forty council buildings. That evening, striking workers disrupted a meeting of the Social Services Committee, during which Councilor Rosemary Nicholson was symbolically presented with a "silver potty award." A group of strikers also maintained an overnight picket outside the Islington Town Hall.

Support from miners and Arthur Scargill

Arthur Scargill speaking at Islington's Town Hall alongside Nursery Striker Terry Conway

With support from the miners of the 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike, in early June, the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the National Graphical Association (NGA) invited Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), to speak at Islington Town Hall in support of the strikers. During the event, one of the striking nursery workers, Terry Conway, addressed the audience about the ongoing dispute. According to Strike News 7, Scargill signed a petition in support of the nursery workers.

ACTSS Trade Union support  

On 19 June, the Association of Community, Technical and Support Staff (ACTSS) trade union held a day of action in support of the nursery workers. ACTSS members, who were employed in playgroups and voluntary sector nurseries, gathered outside Islington Town Hall with approximately forty children for a combined mass picket and picnic as a gesture of solidarity. According to Strike News 10, the nursery strike committee sent a letter of thanks to the voluntary sector childcare workers, which was also to be copied to a councilor who had reportedly told town hall pickets that voluntary sector workers did not support the strike due to comparatively better working conditions in council-run nurseries.

Council meeting action

The Islington Nursery Strikers rallying outside of Islington's Town Hall at the end of a march from Highbury

On the evening of the 19 June, a large march of around 400 people was held from Highbury Fields to the Islington Town Hall, where a council meeting was taking place. The nursery workers were joined by other council workers in a show of support. Parents and nursery workers packed the public gallery and disrupted the meeting, while nursery workers climbed onto the roof and flew their banner from the town hall's flagpole.

NALGO escalation

In the first week of July, Islington NALGO had received approval from the national union to escalate the strike. An additional 400 council workers were called out on indefinite strike in support of the nursery workers from Tuesday 3 July. Meanwhile, at the Town Hall, the laundry van drivers were refusing to cross the picket line, plunging the offices into a "towel crisis".

Despite the strike having escalated, a motion put to a Council meeting on 13 July to make a "substantial offer" to settle the dispute was voted down. A demonstration of striking workers marched to the town hall and gathered outside.

Aware that more pressure was needed to resolve the dispute, the nursery workers called for a ballot of the entire NALGO branch which was successfully agreed upon by the NALGO national executive.

End

By the end of July the strike was resolved. The strike was the longest in Islington Council's history. The nursery workers had voted to accept the council's offer of 26 additional staff posts, deputy managers being made supernumery (meaning they were no longer counted in the ratios) removal of the qualification bar and recognition of a wider range of qualifications and a pay increase of £3 a week. This was not everything the nursery workers had hoped for (the original claim had asked for 75 additional staff posts) but it was a real improvement.

Outcome

The strike ended without full demands being met but successes included:

• Qualification bar was abolished meaning workers without a qualification could proceed;
• Recognised qualifications broadened to include CQSW (Certificate of Qualification in Social Work), Advanced playgroup and nursery teachers certificate;
• Pay increase of £3 a week;
• 26 extra staff appointed, one extra per centre to replace Deputies who will become supernumerary.

Margaret Hodge controversy

During the strike Margaret Hodge was the leader of Islington Council. She came under criticism for advertising for a "Mothers' help" in The Lady magazine during the industrial action. In response to this, one of the strikers in The Daily Telegraph said "by refusing to meet our demands she is prolonging the strike and stopping Islington mothers having the use of nurseries for their children".

Events after the strike

The nursery workers returned to their posts, but challenges persisted. According to the August–September 1984 issue of Broadside, the magazine of Islington, NALGO, the local council intended to recover some of the expenditure incurred in improving care standards at Children's Day Centres by introducing a sliding scale fee increase for parents. For some families, this would have raised weekly charges from £2.35 to £23. Broadside described the proposed rise as "intolerable", suggesting it could restrict access to day care for vulnerable families. In anticipation of the change, mass meetings of nursery staff had already resolved to resist implementing the higher fees, should they be enacted.

A further industrial dispute involving nursery workers in Islington took place in 1989. This indefinite strike was prompted by the suspension of Children's Day Centre managers who had refused to apply an increased child-to-staff ratio of 8:1. The strike commenced on Monday, 8 October 1989, and concluded on 15 January 1990. As a result of the strike action the number of children in the nurseries increased by 11% rather than 27%, marking the first time Islington Council had been forced to reduce cuts by industrial action.

External links

• The subject of Nursery Workers Bite Back audio documentary produced by On the Record
• Featured in Grow Your Own's Childcare History Map
• In 2025, some of the strikers and those involved in producing the Nursery Workers Bite Back audio documentary reflected on their collaboration in "The Islington Nursery Strike" episode on The History Workshop Podcast

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Categories:

• 1984 in England
• 1984 labor disputes and strikes
• Islington
• Labour disputes in England
• Protest marches in London