Britain in grip of public sector strikes against austerity

Nov 30, 2011, 17:05 GMT

London - An estimated 2 million public sector workers in Britain joined a nationwide one-day strike against the government's austerity programme and planned pension cuts Wednesday, trade unions said.

The protests, which saw workers take part in more than 1,000 marches and demonstrations across the country, were described as the biggest outbreak of industrial action in Britain since the 1970s.

The walkouts were hailed as a success by the trade unions and condemned as 'futile' by the government. In angry exchanges in parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron called the protests a 'damp squib.'

Towards the end of the day, the overwhelmingly peaceful protests were marred by clashes in London between riot police and radical demonstrators who occupied an empty office block in the centre of the British capital.

Several members of the Occupy London movement were arrested, police said. The protests were not directly related to the trade union-organized marches, they said.

Countrywide, hospitals, emergency services, schools and immigration services were hit by walkouts of health workers, teachers and officials of the border agency.

In England, around 75 per cent of schools remained closed as teachers backed the action. School closure rates were reported to have been even higher in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where public transport was also affected.

In London, emergency ambulance services said they were experiencing 'significant difficulties,' as hospitals reported the cancellation of around 50 per cent of routine operations.

However, air traffic at London's main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, remained normal, as passengers said they were processed 'quicker than normal' through immigration.

In an attempt to alleviate the impact of the strike, announced several months ago, the airports drafted civil servants and volunteers to help with immigration controls at air-and sea ports.

They also asked British and international airlines to reduce the number of passengers carried on planes and to offer rebookings wherever possible.

Figures showed Wednesday that the number of passengers arriving at Heathrow, London's biggest airport, was about 20,000 lower than on a normal day.

The Conservative-Liberal coalition government has condemned the protests as 'unnecessary and untimely,' stressing that negotiations on pension arrangements between the government and the unions were still continuing.

'This strike is not going to achieve anything. It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs,' George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer said.

The action comes just a day after Osborne delivered gloomy economic news, downgrading predictions for Britain's economic growth and admitting that dealing with the country's debt burden would take longer than anticipated.

While trade unions said support for the strike was solid, with between 80 and 90 per cent of unionized workers taking part, the government minister for communities, Eric Pickles, described participation as 'very patchy.'

Public servants, teachers and border officials argue that a pay freeze and plans to increase pension contributions represent an 'unfair punishment' of workers for an economic crisis for which they are not responsible.