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.”