Tess Little
Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers including teachers, council workers and firefighters staged a 24-hour pay strike on Thursday in a stoppage that has prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge a crackdown on union powers.
Protesters marched through the streets of many of Britain’s main cities in one of the biggest co-ordinated labour stoppages for three years.
Denouncing what they called “poverty pay,” they demanded an end to restrictions on wage rises that have been imposed by the government over the past four years in an effort to help reduce Britain’s huge budget deficit.
In London, demonstrators marched towards Trafalgar Square at midday, chanting “Low pay, no way, no slave labour” to the beat of a drum. A giant pair of inflatable scissors, carried by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), read “Education cuts never heal.”
Firefighter Simon Amos, 47, marched wearing his uniform behind a flashing fire engine parading members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). “The government are making us pay more for our pension for it to be worth the same, and making us work longer,” he said.
The biggest public sector union involved, Unison, said early reports showed the strike had lead to 3,225 school closures with more than 1,000 others partially closed.