Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
India

Britain faces mass strike by public sector workers

Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Jul, 2014 11:52 AM
    Britain is witnessing one of the biggest strikes by public sector employees in three years with up to one million people expected to take to the streets to protest pay freeze and pension changes as part of austerity measures, media reports said Thursday.
     
    Union leaders said more than 50 marches and rallies were organised across England and Wales Thursday, the Guardian reported. 
     
    Health workers and civil servants are joining teachers in the mass demonstration against the austerity measures. 
     
    Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, representing many of the country's lowest paid workers, told the BBC: "Something has got to give -- enough is enough.
     
    "We've got 300,000 now on zero-hour contracts, we've got a million workers in local government earning below the living wage that (Conservative Party leader) Boris Johnson and others talk about, and people are saying: 'We cannot go through another three years of this pay restraint'."
     
    The National Union of Teachers (NUT) says more than 20,000 teachers could take part with nationwide rallies and pickets planned for towns and cities ranging from Cambridge, Leicester, Swansea, Torquay and the Isle of Wight, the Independent reported.
     
    The British government implemented a public sector pay freeze for two years from 2010-12 and has subsequently imposed a one percent pay cap, meaning some of the lowest paid workers have seen their income fall in real terms for more than four years.
     
    The result of a Trades Union Congress research Wednesday showed that since the coalition government led by Prime Minister David Cameron took office, local government workers, teachers, firefighters, civil servants and other public servants were on average 2,245 pounds worse off in real terms.
     
    However, the government has downplayed the extent of the strike.
     
    "The vast majority of dedicated public sector workers did not vote for today's action, and early indications are that most are turning up for work as usual. We have rigorous contingency plans in place, services appear to be working well and we expect most schools and job centres to open their doors," a Cabinet Office spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Criticism mounts in Congress at 'Team Rahul'

    Criticism mounts in Congress at 'Team Rahul'
    Voices are growing in the Congress over the role of "Team Rahul" in the Lok Sabha elections with suggestions that the aides of vice president Rahul Gandhi could not read the ground realities.

    Criticism mounts in Congress at 'Team Rahul'

    Magnitude-6 Quake rocks India, Tremors felt across the country

    Magnitude-6 Quake rocks India, Tremors felt across the country
    An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurred in the Bay of Bengal Wednesday evening. Tremors were felt across India, but there was no tsunami warning and no reports of casualties or damage

    Magnitude-6 Quake rocks India, Tremors felt across the country

    @PMOIndia Twitter account will be available to Modi

    @PMOIndia Twitter account will be available to Modi
    All PMO internet-based platforms and communications therein will continue to remain under the administrative control and management of the PMO after the changeover of the government

    @PMOIndia Twitter account will be available to Modi

    In a first, Modi invites SAARC heads to swearing in

    In a first, Modi invites SAARC heads to swearing in
    In a major diplomatic signal to the region as well as to the global community, India's prime minister-designate Narendra Modi, who surprised the world with his election victory and is set to head the country's next government, has invited heads of all the SAARC countries, including Pakistan, for his oath-taking ceremony May 26.

    In a first, Modi invites SAARC heads to swearing in

    AAP in Trouble: Arvind Kejriwal Arrested! AAP Workers Clash With Cops

    AAP in Trouble: Arvind Kejriwal Arrested! AAP Workers Clash With Cops
     AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was Wednesday sent to judicial custody in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, hours after he apologised for resigning as Delhi's chief minister in February.

    AAP in Trouble: Arvind Kejriwal Arrested! AAP Workers Clash With Cops

    Arvind Kejriwal apologises for quitting as Delhi CM, seeks fresh election

    Arvind Kejriwal apologises for quitting as Delhi CM, seeks fresh election
    Since the Lok Sabha elections have ended, I have been roaming around in Delhi where people have come up to me and said that we have already made a mistake, and that we should not repeat it

    Arvind Kejriwal apologises for quitting as Delhi CM, seeks fresh election