Described by the unions as ‘the biggest walkout of the generation’, the public sector pension strikes involved up to two million public sector workers, including members from the University and College Union (UCU), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and National Union of Teachers (NUT).
Recourse monitored the action in London to find out more.
A group of lecturers from Tower Hamlet Colleges said: “If you have the same thinking and the same attitude, you get into the same recession. You need education to get out of recession, the cuts are unnecessary.”
One member from ATL told us: “I’ve been having sleepless nights and was feeling anxious and stressed over the Government’s decisions.”
An NUT teacher told us: “I’m 62 and it doesn’t affect me, but can you imagine me teaching a class of 31 ten year olds? They wouldn’t get the best out of me.”
Talkign about the strikes, UCU General Secretary, Sally Hunt commented: “Despite b.eing possibly the only minister to have stood on a picket line, Michael Gove is still symptomatic of this Government’s complete lack of understanding of trade unions and working people. Educators are far from mindless militants and to suggest they want to inconvenience anybody is incredibly insulting. They would rather be in the classroom than on the picket line tomorrow, but they will fight to save their pensions. They want proper negotiations to secure a resolution to the dispute and it is time for the government to deliver.”
“Strike action will always be, quite rightly, a last resort and for Michael Gove or anyone in Government to suggest otherwise exposes the contempt with which they hold hard-working public servants.”
Despite the response from the unions and their members, Prime Minister David Cameron described the protest as a ‘damp squib strike’. He commented: “The reason people are going on strike is because they object to the reforms we are making to public sector pensions. I believe those reforms are absolutely essential and as the former Labour Pension Secretary Lord Hutton said…”It is hard to imagine a better deal than this.”
Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC she recognises people are concerned about pensions but that the Government has made a ‘generous’ offer and going ahead with the strike is ‘irresponsible’.
For the latest news on the pension strikes, follow us on Twitter @RecourseCharity.
by Victoria Bamber
