Public sector workers are staging a strike over pensions in what unions say is set to be the biggest walkout for a generation.
Schools, hospitals, courts and government offices around the UK are among services being disrupted, as more than 1,000 demonstrations take place.
The chancellor urged more talks, saying strikes would not achieve anything.
Unions object to government plans to make their members pay more and work longer to earn their pensions.
The strike is having the following effects:
- The Department of Education says it is expecting 13% of state-funded schools in England, including academies and free schools, to open and 13% to be partially open. The status of 16% of schools is unknown
- In Scotland, 30 of the 2,700 council-run schools are believed to be open, says local authority body Cosla
- Plane arrivals and take-offs at Britain’s two biggest airports – Heathrow and Gatwick – are largely unaffected with only a few cancellations of in-bound transatlantic flights to Heathrow
- Heathrow operator BAA, and its busiest carrier, British Airways, have both reported near normal services, with queues at immigration no longer than usual
- At Heathrow, the 10 EU desks at Terminal 3’s immigration services are being manned by a mix of Home Office staff and police officers who have been trained. Five non-EU desks are open as airport sources suggest immigration controls are at two-thirds of normal staffing levels
- In Northern Ireland, no bus or train services will be operating and two-thirds of schools and colleges will be closed
- Unions estimate about 300,000 public sector workers are on strike in Scotland while 170,000 workers in Wales are taking action
- NHS managers say contingency measures have been put in place to protect services such as A&E units, cancer treatment and end-of-life care
- In England, the government estimates about 400,000 nurses and healthcare assistants, paramedics, physiotherapists and support staff like cleaners and administrators are joining the action. It says about 60,000 non-urgent operations, out-patient appointments, tests and follow-up appointments have been postponed
- BBC News Channel’s chief political correspondent Norman Smith tweeted: “(Health Secretary) Andrew Lansley says patients who have ops cancelled today will still be seen within 18-week limit.”
- London Ambulance Service tells BBC London it is “struggling” and said people not in a life-threatening condition may not get an ambulance while South East Coast Ambulance Service says it is now only responding to “life-threatening emergencies”
- In Scotland, at least 3,000 operations and thousands more hospital appointments are affected
- Union leaders say although court staff are taking action, the trial of two men accused of killing of teenager Stephen Lawrence will not be disrupted
- The BBC’s Ross Hawkins tweeted that strike placards had been seen outside the Royal Courts of Justice but said the Leveson Inquiry is going ahead as planned
- BBC political correspondent Mike Sergeant tweeted: “Union official outside HMRC in Whitehall predicting 70% of those who work in the building will strike.”
‘Negotiating table’
Unions say up to two million public sector workers are to take part in the strike.
Speaking from Brussels, Chancellor George Osborne told BBC Breakfast: “The strike is not going to achieve anything, it’s not going to change anything. It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs.”
He said unions should be holding talks with the government to resolve the pension dispute, rather than taking strike action.
He added that without making difficult choices about dealing with the UK’s debts the country “would be bankrupt”.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he had “huge sympathy” for people whose lives are disrupted by the strike.
But he said he was “not going to condemn the dinner ladies, nurses, teachers who have made the decision to go on strike because they feel they have been put in an impossible position by a government that has refused to negotiate properly”.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls told BBC Breakfast the pensions row should have been resolved by the government.
Liberal Democrat Party president Tim Farron told the BBC News Channel the unions were wrong to strike because workers on low to middle incomes would get a “better, or certainly no worse” pension when they retire than is currently the case.
Earlier on Tuesday, union leaders reacted angrily to Mr Osborne’s Autumn Statement announcements of a public sector pay cap of 1% for two years, as well as bringing forward to 2026 the rise in the state pension age to 67.
‘Failure to negotiate’
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that industrial action by his union was rare but public sector workers “were annoyed”. Millions of workers – mainly low-paid women – were being unfairly affected by changes to pensions, he said.
“That is when people say enough is enough,” he added.
Mr Prentis said the last time unions met the Treasury ministers was 2 November, adding “this idea that negotiations are continuing is just not true.”
However Cabinet Minister Francis Maude disputed this claim, saying formal discussions with the civil service unions happened on Tuesday and that talks will take place with teaching unions on Thursday and with health unions on Friday.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the public sector was “under attack” by the government, adding that the action was justified.
“With the scale of change the government are trying to force through, making people work much, much longer and get much, much less, that’s the call people have made,” he said.
Paul Noon, leader of civil service union Prospect, said members felt the chancellor was “aiming yet another punch at them”.
Courts, job centres, driving tests and council services, such as libraries, community centres and refuse collections have been affected by the strike.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has said it is “unfair and unrealistic” to expect taxpayers to foot the growing public sector pensions bill.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “We have to be fair to all taxpayers not just those who work in the public sector. If we’re going to sustain these kind of high quality pensions in the long run there does have to be reform.”
Contingency plans
Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members who work for the UK Border Agency have gone on strike however airport sources suggested to the BBC that immigration controls are at two thirds of normal staffing levels – more than the 30-50% predicted previously.
The government has said no border controls will be relaxed to ease queues.
Gatwick’s chief operating officer Scott Stanley said: “Whilst passengers have so far not experienced delays at the border zones we do expect delays to occur at some point today as the rate of arriving flights increases.”
Weather forecasting staff at the Met Office, catering staff in the House of Commons and museum curators are also among those due to walk out on Wednesday.
Simon Walker, of the Institute of Directors, told the BBC News Channel the strike was doing “significant damage” to the economy.
“If you’re damaging the productive capacity of this country you’re really doing huge damage to the fabric of the economy and that will last a long time and impact on all of us,” he said.
Source-BBC
