Strike action looms amid war of words
Monday 28th November 2011, 10:59AM GMT.
A war of words was raging between unions and the Government as final preparations were being made for the biggest day of strike action in more than 30 years over the bitter public sector pensions dispute.
Union leaders and ministers clashed over who was to blame for the deadlocked row, which will lead to a 24-hour walkout by up to two million workers on Wednesday.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the Government should pause and reflect on how it had managed to ‘alienate its entire workforce’, while a senior minister urged nurses, teachers and civil servants to find out for themselves what the Government’s reforms meant for their pensions.
Despite last-minute pleas from the Government for Wednesday’s strike not to go ahead, unions pressed on with arrangements for marches, rallies, picketing and protests to be held across the UK.
In Shropshire, thousands of children will see their schools closed when their teachers walk out.
The most recent figures from Shropshire Council say 52 schools will close, with a further 41 set for closure in Telford & Wrekin.
Contingency plans are in place to ensure Shropshire hospitals will be able to cope.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has suspended some non-urgent clinics and cancelled a number of appointments.
However, anyone affected will be contacted by the Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust to have their appointments rearranged.
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Don’t be took in by all the Conservative party lies about this strike,many of the people who will be on strike are low paid part time workers,when they retire they will hardly pick up thousands in pensions as the Tories will tell you.
They are using newspapers who support their cause to try to spread hate & envy towards public sector workers.
David Cameron and his cronies on the other hand are the one’s who will pick up gold plated pensions at our expense.
Look at the bigger picture of what lies behind this strike The Sun ,Daily Mail,Telegraph have their own reasons for supporting Cameron not the readers welfare at heart
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Funny how teachers can close schools for a day, yet when I take my child out to go on holiday I face being fined.
Equality I understood works both ways.
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Ron it’s funny how our tory council can close our kids school and make em walk 3 miles to school and say that low paid workers take a cut in pay work longer and get less these torys love sheep but thank god there are people who will fight as there is no equality under this government.
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93 Schools closed across the county, many parents having to take unpaid leave to look after their children.
I think public sector unions are doing perfectly well at spreading hatred and envy towards the public sector without the help of the papers
now talk about ” welfare at heart “.
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Well these lovely torys in shropshire have shut my kids school for good not just one day i support the strikers as you only have one thing in life to withdraw and that is your labour.
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I’m sure they have an alternative school to go to.
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I thought there was choice in life and the alternative is 3.2 miles away or 2 buses at a cost of 2.40 each way x 5 24 pounds a week each child and i have 2 with child benefit freeze this is a great move the reason behind the closure of the school is money building and playing fields 4 or 5 million pounds that is the real reason.
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I trust that the striking employees will all be contributing to a fund to reimburse tax payers for the day of foregone services. In truth, though, what will be missed? Hospitals with performance at the bottom of the heap? Dozens of schools who provide our kids with education graded only satisfactory? Go on, strike for longer, save your employers even more, so that we can all get a refund.
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You seem to forget that they are also taxpayers who need public services. What services? Well I would like to see society function with no schools, bin collections, social care, planning, emergency services, nurses, public leisure facilities, support for the unemployed etc.. You may not think much of all these services, but thousands rely on them everyday.
Your words are spoken like a true rich person, completely ignorant of the real world and thinking of no-one but themselves.
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Well Mark. I to am glad people will strike for things they believe in. What about parents rights. Teachers get good pensions none will loose out from the new proposed pension rights.
How about the teachers agreeing to shorten their paid holiday breaks lets say 4 weeks in summer, 1 week at Xmas and only 1 day ar each half term. That would reduce my child care costs and I too could then stand shoulder to shoulder with the teachers.
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I’m not a teacher but I work in a school, Id like to see you find a babysitter or private educator for cheaper. And paid holidays? They don’t get paid holidays. They get a salary. So for the 40 weeks they work, their pay is spread over 52 weeks. My girlfriend who is a teacher, stands to lose £140,000+ from her pension. Would you stand there doing nothing if you lost that?
I’m set to lose out on my pension too because we are going on CPI. Which is really the main reason for these strikes. Do your research on CPI and RPI and you will see why we are going on strike.
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Losing £140.000? My pension after 25 years is only worth £26,000, she’s obviously earning too much. Why is she only your girlfriend? Marry her quickly you fool.
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Yet again our thatcherite toff Shameron has proven that his party is out of touch with reality. He doesn’t mind enriching his uber rich buddies at the expense of the working man. We need a national strike
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Listen carefully kids: when two very rich people get married and you’re given a day off it’s wonderfully patriotic. When your teachers have no option but to take a day off to fight for the future of the teaching profession, it’s the end of the world as we know it.
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im with the strikers on this one, like braveheart says ” you can take our land, you can insult us, you can spit on us, you can take our homes but you’ll never take out PENSIONS… ” something like that anyway…
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Brilliant Asif , but as braveheart found out you can have a few minor victories then you will get hung drawn and quartered. This tory government, will withdraw the deal they are now prepared to make and you will have the unions to blame for that .
This strike by the public sector is being hijacked by the teachers union , the low paid workers will pay dearly for going along with all this, teachers only care for themselves and care not a jot for any other public sector worker or anyone else for that matter . greedy arrogant , and stuck in a time warp with an inability to accept they are an employee not an employer and they do not call the shots so much so they now go down the road of blackmail and close schools.
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the whole system is corrupt & rotten to the core,run by mindless banker & corporation puppets,with a cheesey grin on their faces as they rip away their countrey’mens lives while bombing other countries to oblivion.
who cares about your bloody pensions with so many other life destroying things to care about.
goes to show how we have no empathy for our fellow man unless it affects our own pocket.
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So true, and I am in the private sector, and shall be on strike, a stand has to be made, and whilst you may not agree with cause you must appreciate the priciple.
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