BRITAIN is bracing itself for a fresh round of industrial action after the biggest strike for five years closed thousands of schools and disrupted courts, driving tests and job centres.
Union leaders predicted that up to four million workers could be involved in strikes in the autumn if the row over changes to public sector pensions is not resolved.
Teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other workers from across the North-East and North Yorkshire yesterday joined thousands nationally in walking out in protest at the controversial changes.
Up to 6,000 people attended a march and rally in Newcastle and there were similar protests in Durham City, Middlesbrough, York and towns all over the region.
Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union, said members would start a month-long ban on overtime from midnight, which he said would hit work in job centres, passport and benefit offices and Government departments.
Unions clashed with the Government over the impact of the strike, while Labour leader Ed Miliband was told he was a disgrace for failing to support the action.
The PCS said it was the best supported strike it had ever held, with 200,000 people taking action.
But the Government put the figure at half that and Downing Street said there had been minimal impact on the public from the strike action.
More than 11,000 schools in England were disrupted, according to the Department for Education. But teaching unions suggested the numbers were higher.
Mr Miliband criticised workers for walking out while negotiations on reform of their pensions were still ongoing, saying that while he understood the anger of the teachers and civil servants involved, the action was wrong.
Meanwhile, as the dispute threatens to escalate, members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted to consider taking industrial action over pensions.
Dr George Rae, chairman of the BMA in the North-East, last night admitted that feelings were running high among doctors but denied yesterday’s vote meant strike action was imminent.
He said: “The overwhelming concern is that in an intensive job such as ours that can be highly pressurised it is not possible to work up until you are 68.
“The vote was about the BMA considering what sort of action they would be prepared to take.
“Having said that, we don’t see our part of the public sector going out on strike.”
Public sector workers from across the region took part in marches and demonstrations yesterday as they joined the national one-day walkout in protest at Government plans that will reduce their pensions.
In Durham City, 400 members of the Public Commercial Services Union (PCS) who work at the city’s Land Registry office stayed away from their desks.
Union members staged a picket outside the Southfields Way complex before travelling to a regional march and rally in the centre of Newcastle.
Assistant branch secretary Angela Appleby said: “There are people in work, but I would imagine there are very few things getting done.
“The members are really up for a fight. They have seen how much they will be losing and how much longer they will have to work.”
PCS members based at the city’s passport office staged a picket outside the building and on Milburngate Bridge.
Marchers in Newcastle expressed their support for the action.
Chris Love, 63, a former teacher from Newcastle, said: “The previous Government and this one should try to get the private sector pensions up to a similar standard. They are going the wrong away about it and that is the key thing.”
Marcher Jim Clark, 56, head of education at Northumbria University said: “It is not just me, but it’s all those generations of staff, teachers and coming behind the kids who will move into jobs in the public sector.
“The public sector needs protecting. We should be looking at a coherent pension policy across the country for everyone.”
Retired teacher and former Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Marshall, 75, said: “I hate to see what is happening to teachers’ pensions.
“I am also concerned about all public service workers.
They have been made promises all their lives – the Government are not making good on their promises.”
Andy Wain, 42, lecturer at New College, Durham, said: “The wider perception of pensions is that we have got goldplated pensions. It is more like deferred pay.
“I contribute, my employer contributes and all the Government does is clear the treasury and spend it on what it likes.
“If the Government doesn’t think the pensions are working, just give me my money back and I’ll invest it somewhere else.”
Organisers of a rally in Middlesbrough said they believed between 300 and 400 people attended.
College lecturer Alan Chape, chairman of the University College Union branch at Stockton Riverside College, said: “We have been buoyed by being able to give voice to our feelings. The turnout was double what we expected.”
Those present gathered at the corner of Linthorpe Road and Newport Road to hear union representatives denounce reforms of public sector pensions, with one claiming the Government “wanted blood”.
Members of the North Yorkshire NUT joined the union’s York branch and other public sector workers at a rally in the centre of York.
Secretary of the North Yorkshire branch Paul Busby said: “It wasn’t a confrontational event. On the whole it was an event that allowed people’s genuine concerns to be aired.
“In essence, we are here because the sense of justice and fairness we try to promote in the classroom isn’t being honoured by the Government.”
Schools across the region were closed as a result of the action. More than 150 schools across County Durham closed or partially closed – the figure in North Yorkshire was 110.
In many families, grandparents took on childcare duties for the day as a result.
Northallerton’s playground in Alverton Lane was full with mainly grandparents looking after their grandchildren.
Retired George Matthews, who travelled from Durham City with his wife to look after his granddaughter, said: “People in the private sector have had to just accept changes to things like pensions for years and years now.
“It’s a shame for the teachers who are coming up for retirement now, but it’s inevitable that we can’t go on like this. The economy is in a terrible mess and it’s affecting everyone.”
Another grandparent, who did not wish to be named, said: “My partner works for North Yorkshire County Council, so I’m sympathetic to the reasons for striking.
“But it’s hard for the young families that work, especially for those who don’t have anyone to help with childcare.”
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