As strike action by the country's nursery nurses neared the end of its third week, the minister said he didn't think that a review "could begin or be conducted in the atmosphere of an all-out strike.
"It is vital that the local authorities and trade unions get back around the table," he added. "It is ridiculous that the industrial action has gone on for this period of time without face-to-face negotiations taking place."
A total of 10 of Scotland's 32 local authorities have now agreed pay deals with their nursery workers, but Unison and CoSLA, the local authority employers' association, are still in dispute over a national framework.
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