Public sector workers in mass strike

10 July 2014 Last updated at 12:54

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Richard Lister reports on the day of strike action by public sector workers

Strikes are taking place across the UK in a series of disputes with the government over pay, pensions and cuts, with more than a million public sector workers expected to join the action.

Firefighters, librarians and council staff are among those taking part from several trade unions, with rallies taking place across the UK.

Thousands of pupils are missing lessons as many schools are closed.

The Cabinet Office blamed union leaders for "irresponsible" strikes.

A spokesman said "most public sector workers had reported for work and "nearly all key public services are being delivered as usual".

Libraries and museums

It said one fifth of civil servants - fewer than 90,000 workers - were on strike, 717 Jobcentres were unaffected and the "majority" of schools in England and Wales were open.

The Local Government Association said around 95% of council staff were at work across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

However, the action has caused disruption:

• Hundreds of schools in England and Wales have been closed or partially shut
• Museums have been closed in Edinburgh, Nottingham and Leicester, many libraries are closed and bin collections have been stopped in Derby
• Some airports - including Heathrow - have warned passengers about possible delays due to border control staff striking
• A spokesman said 919 Scottish Government staff were taking part in industrial action - just over 12 per cent of the workforce
• In Northern Ireland, Belfast Zoo, leisure centres, public toilets, recycling centres and civic amenity sites have been closed
• In Wales, all business at the Welsh assembly has been cancelled, the DVLA centre in Swansea has warned of delays, while the National Museum in Cardiff has been closed

Thousands of people have been taking taken part in marches and rallies across the UK, with an estimated 1,500 people marching through central London and 2,000 people in Brighton, according to police.

Other large rallies are being held in Birmingham, Newcastle, Swansea and other cities.

Picket lines have also been mounted outside courts, council offices, job centres and fire stations across the country as well as outside the Houses of Parliament in London.

Pay cap

The biggest issue in dispute is pay, after ministers froze public sector salaries in 2010 and introduced a 1% cap on pay rises in 2012 which remains in place.

Those taking part in the action include:

• Firefighters who are involved in a row over pensions and retirement age
• The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) - which represents civil servants, passport office workers and other public sector staff - in a dispute over pay, cuts to jobs, pensions and the privatisation of services
• Unison which represents, among others, workers in local government, healthcare, colleges and schools, and the GMB representing, among others, workers who serve school meals, clean streets, empty bins, carers and school support workers, in a row over this year's pay offer
• Unite members - including local government staff, council workers and teaching staff - who also dismissed the "insulting" pay offer
• The National Union of Teachers (NUT), whose general secretary Christine Blower said teachers "deeply regretted" taking strike action
• Schools, courts, job centres and council services have been hit in Wales, where around 70,000 public sector workers are on strike
• Members of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, who work in a range of areas including housing, youth justice and libraries, striking over pay
• RMT members working for Transport for London are striking over pay and pensions

For Unite, Unison and the GMB the strike action covers workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland, while the PCS covers all four nations. The FBU and NUT are England and Wales only.

'Enough is enough'

Addressing the House of Commons, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said responsibility for the disruption caused by the action lay with union leaders.

However, Labour's Michael Dugher said the government should bear "much of the blame", saying strikes represent a "failure on all sides".

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis told BBC Breakfast workers had been left frustrated by pay freezes, adding that "enough is enough".

"When Cameron brought in the two-year pay freeze, our local government workers, our members, had already had a one-year pay freeze.

"So they've had a three-year pay freeze and then a 1% increase when inflation has gone up by something like 20%," he said.

Analysis

BBC political correspondent Norman Smith

Strikes are meant to cause maximum pain for employers but in this case that doesn't look like happening.

Why? Because far from causing the government much political grief, today's strikes by public sector workers are actually rather politically convenient.

Of course there will be much ministerial condemnation of the disruption caused.

But at the same time Conservative ministers hope popular annoyance will buttress support for their plans for further action to curb the power of unions.

In particular, Prime Minister David Cameron is keen to include plans for a strike ballot threshold in his party's next manifesto.

Today's strikes enable ministers to turn up the heat on Labour by pressing them to condemn the industrial action being carried out by their big union supporters.

And they also expect widespread backing in the newspapers for their bullish stance.

So, while in public ministers will appear angered by the strikes, in private they may be good deal more relaxed.

Decent wage

Fire chiefs urged people to take extra care because of the walkout between 10:00 and 19:00 BST, the 15th round of industrial action in the Fire Brigades Union's long-running row with the government.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Across the public sector workers are on strike today to say enough is enough.

"Year after year pay has failed to keep up with the cost of living."

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Gillian Whittaker of the GMB Union: ''What we are asking for is a living wage''

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the action by public sector workers was about "demonstrating that they've had enough".

He told BBC Radio 5 live: "If that means that fire stations and schools are closed, and there are delays at airports and that people find that they are inconvenienced, whilst we regret the inconvenience, what we're really trying to say is that everyone depends on our members' services, so start paying them a decent wage."

Ballot turnouts

The strikes are going ahead despite the government arguing that they are based on ballots conducted some years ago, with low turnout from union members.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the time had come for legislation setting a minimum turnout for a strike ballot, promising this in the next Conservative manifesto.

Under the current law, a strike can take place if it is backed by a simple majority of those union members who vote - regardless of the level of turnout.

Education Secretary Michael Gove also criticised the NUT's ballot, which was held in 2012 with a turnout of 27%.

He told BBC Newsnight schoolchildren needed to be protected from what he said was "essentially politically-motivated industrial action".

But the union's general secretary, Christine Blower, told the programme it was "perfectly legitimate".

Are you a public sector worker? Will you be on strike? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line 'Strike'.

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