30.06.11
Strike action gets underway
Strike action by public sector workers is taking place with thousands manning picket lines in protest at the Government’s austerity measures and pension plans.
Around half of all schools in England and Wales are believed to be affected as three teaching unions strike, whilst coastguards, prison officers, civil servants, court workers and air traffic controllers are amongst those also taking industrial action. Job centres are also affected.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude (pictured) condemned the strikes on the BBC: “Teachers don’t have to [strike] and they shouldn’t. Talks are still going on. It is absolutely unjustifiable for parents up and down the country to be inconvenienced like this.”
But Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, said his members were left with no choice but to take action as the Government was not prepared to “compromise on any of the central issues of the strike”.
“While they are talking, they are not negotiating,” he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
And Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, also disputed Maude’s comments saying: “We haven't been able to negotiate, we haven't had the basic information we need from the Government.”
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