Barnsley nursery workers strike over council plan to transfer six nurseries
Thirty-three nursery workers staged a strike protest outside a nursery in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, according to The Guardian. The action involves staff at six nurseries run by Barnsley Council.
The council is now led by Reform UK, which took control at the local elections in May after half a century of Labour leadership. Its Reform UK leadership has agreed to transfer the six nurseries to private companies, the Guardian reports. Plans for the move began under the previous Labour administration, which had told workers that their pay and benefits, including pensions, would stay the same.
The striking workers are members of the GMB union. Victoria Austin, a GMB regional organiser, represents them. Turnout in the strike ballot was 100%, with every member backing the walkout.
Council leader William Brown said the decision to transfer the nurseries was taken to protect jobs and keep services available for families. The council has also said there is no legal duty for councils to run nursery services, and that the transfer would reduce the amount of council taxpayers' money needed to support the nurseries.
It has said its proposal is about keeping nursery provision available and sustainable, and that it is not privatisation, outsourcing or "selling the business", according to a council statement issued in September.
The dispute is over pensions, according to the BBC. In October, the BBC reported that the GMB had said industrial action by Barnsley nursery workers was expected in November. The council said it had been in talks about moving the nurseries to private ownership since 2024, and that it was "disappointed" by the strike vote.
One nursery has already closed. The council deregistered it with Ofsted, the childcare regulator, to allow a private provider to register there, and the provider then pulled out, according to the Guardian.
A council freedom of information response, which is an answer to a request for official records, says the council has not carried out a procurement exercise, the formal process of inviting bids, for the transfer of the nursery provision.
The council made additional provision for families on the three strike days.
