UK public workers in huge strike

Public sector workers around the UK are staging a strike over pensions in what unions say could be the biggest walkout for a generation. Thousands of schools are closed and hospital operations have been cancelled. Courts and government offices are among disrupted services. The chancellor urged more talks, saying strikes would not achieve anything. Unions object to government plans to make their members pay more and work longer to earn their pensions.Unions say up to two million public sector workers are to take part in the strike but the cabinet office said early indications show significantly less than a third of civil servants were taking strike action.At Prime Minister questions, David Cameron described the strike as a "damp squib". He said he thought the government had made a "very reasonable, very fair offer to public sector workers". "I don't want to see any strikes, I don't want to see schools closed, I don't want to see problems at our borders, but this government has to make responsible decisions," he said. Earlier, the prime minister's spokesman said a small number of Downing Street staff had gone on strike, while others had been affected by school closures and some staff from the Downing Street policy unit were helping out at the borders. Speaking from Brussels, Chancellor George Osborne told BBC Breakfast that the "strike is not going to achieve anything" and will only "make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs". He said unions should be holding talks with the government to resolve the pension dispute, rather than taking strike action. Labour leader Ed Miliband said he had "huge sympathy" for people whose lives are disrupted by the strike. But he said he was "not going to condemn the dinner ladies, nurses, teachers who have made the decision to go on strike because they feel they have been put in an impossible position by a government that has refused to negotiate properly". Liberal Democrat Party president Tim Farron told the BBC News Channel the unions were wrong to strike because workers on low to middle incomes would get a "better, or certainly no worse" pension when they retire than is currently the case. Union leaders have reacted angrily to Mr Osborne's Autumn Statement announcements of a public sector pay cap of 1% for two years, as well as bringing forward to 2026 the rise in the state pension age to 67. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that industrial action by his union was rare but public sector workers "were annoyed". Millions of workers - mainly low-paid women - were being unfairly affected by changes to pensions, he said.Mr added that the last time unions met Treasury ministers was 2 November, adding "this idea that negotiations are continuing is just not true." However Cabinet Minister Francis Maude disputed this claim, saying formal discussions with the civil service unions happened on Tuesday and that talks will take place with teaching unions on Thursday and with health unions on Friday. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the public sector was "under attack" by the government, adding that the action was justified. "With the scale of change the government are trying to force through, making people work much, much longer and get much, much less, that's the call people have made," he said.Paul Noon, leader of civil service union Prospect, said members felt the chancellor was "aiming yet another punch at them". Education Secretary Michael Gove has said it is "unfair and unrealistic" to expect taxpayers to foot the growing public sector pensions bill.Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members who work for the UK Border Agency have gone on strike but airport sources suggested to the BBC that immigration controls are at two thirds of normal staffing levels - more than the 30-50% predicted previously. The Immigration Services Union says 80% to 90% of staff are striking, with 22 out of 23 workers at Calais port not showing up for work and, as far as they are aware, none of their members are working at Heathrow. Lucy Morton from the union said queues at Heathrow were "not that significant" due to reduced flight capacity, adding it will have more information when the next shift is due to turn up for work at lunchtime. The ISU has 4,500 members out of a workforce of 6,000. The government has said no border controls will be relaxed to ease queues. Gatwick's chief operating officer Scott Stanley said: "Whilst passengers have so far not experienced delays at the border zones we do expect delays to occur at some point today as the rate of arriving flights increases."A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "Early signs show our contingency plans are minimising the impact of strike action, but waiting times at some ports may still be slightly longer than normal." Simon Walker, of the Institute of Directors, told the BBC News Channel the strike was doing "significant damage" to the economy. "If you're damaging the productive capacity of this country you're really doing huge damage to the fabric of the economy and that will last a long time and impact on all of us," he said.