Public sector workers held well attended strike rallies up and down the country today as part of their campaign against Gordon Brown's public sector wage freeze.
Workers in the Unite union at the charity Shelter were striking around the country on Thursday as part of a 48 hour strike against longer hours and low pay. The picket line at Shelter’s Old Street headquarters in east London fluctuated between ten and 15 people, while there were at least ten at the City offices. Pickets at Old Street said the strike was absolutely solid.
In Sussex teachers report successful picketing in the Burgess Hill/Haywards Heath area of West Sussex closed all four local schools.
Across the region there were solid strikes including a number of colleges. Tracey Errington, a lecturer in the UCU union at Newcastle College, said, "I continue to be appalled that an organisation which repeatedly projects a corporate image of continual improvement and success, will not reward those who are paramount in ensuring both, on a day to day basis. Lecturers only ask for recognition and to be valued for the excessive workloads and achievements that are credited to the college as a whole."
Striking teachers were marching through Manchester today as hundreds of schools closed across the region.
There is far less traffic on the roads of Birmingham today as the city has essentially shut down. That’s no surprise in a city with 25,000 people on strike.
Across London schools and colleges shut down along side Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) sites.
The fightback started today. Up and down the country more than 400,000 workers are on strike. Teachers, lecturers, civil service workers and 20,000 Birmingham council workers are out.
Uniting under the banner of "Save Our Livelihood", around 7,000 British Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Turkish catering employers, workers and supporters gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London last Sunday to protest against Britain’s draconian immigration rules.
