Pension Strike Action in England & Wales

Across England and Wales there are hundreds of thousands of people on strike including teachers, 105,000 civil servants and public sector workers, all striking over the government’s review of public sector pension, the pension reform is currently at the proposal stage.

The strike action is intended to show the Coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameroon (Conservative Party) and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat), the people’s disappointment at the proposed pension changes the government has detailed.

Over 11,000 schools across the England and Wales are closed today due to teachers strike action leaving students with an early summer holiday day off.

London airports have also been hit by the strike action as immigration officers are also on strike; some travellers are facing delays due to the industrial action.

Travellers arriving to England on long haul flights and those without an EU passport will be most affected by the strike action by the immigration officers, as they have to go through more immigration checks than those from EU countries.

For travellers arriving on Euro Star there shouldn’t be any delays as the Immigration checks are done on the other side.

Strikes and Industrial action always affects a lot of people, and is supposed to be used as a last resort to shown discontent, today saw hundreds of thousands of people march through central London in Protest to the proposed pension reforms.

It is now a case of waiting to see if the strike action today will have any affect on the pension reforms put forward by the Government, whether today 30 June 2011, Strike day was the day that saves public sector pensions or first day of ongoing battle with government. It’s not so much about what is happening on the streets but the Negotiations between what on what unions want and what ministers say they can afford.

Some of the key factors in dispute are the public sector workers are saying that the pension reform means they will be paying up to £74 a month extra and also will have to work longer till 66, the government says if a worker is paid less than £15k per year there will be no change and everyone is still guaranteed a pension payout.