Striking UCU members were joined by students when they marched through St Andrews as part of the day of industrial action Nov. 30. (FIFE Free Press Group)
Two million public sector workers staged an unprecedented one-day strike in the United Kingdom Nov. 30 to protest the government’s austerity plans and cuts to pensions.
Lecture halls, labs and libraries on campuses across the UK sat empty as the University and College Union joined the dispute.
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said academic staff are angered at being asked to work longer and pay more for worse pensions.
“Educators are far from the mindless militants portrayed by the government, but they will fight to save their pensions,” Hunt said. “Strike action is always a last resort and we will continue to work towards a negotiated settlement.”
As part of its controversial austerity program, the coalition Conservative-Liberal Democrat government is imposing wage restraints on public sector workers while raising pension contributions and retirement age. The government also plans to enact changes in the way pension benefits are calculated, which public sector unions say would see their value cut by 15 per cent.
Hunt said that despite repeated government claims that current public sector pension schemes are unaffordable, a National Audit Report from last year showed that they are sustainable.
She added that, contrary to charges that staff receive “gold-plated” pensions, the average pension for a lecturer in further education is £9,000 ($14,400) while a higher education lecturer will on average receive benefits of just £11,400 ($18,320).
“It’s peanuts compared to MPs and company directors pensions,” Hunt said.
In addition to universities and col-leges, the strike shut schools, hospitals, courts, public transit and government services. About one-quarter of the entire civil service in the UK joined the walkout, including members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s staff.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the strike was necessary because the public sector is “absolutely under attack” by the government.
“There comes a time when people really have to stand up and take action,” he said in a televised interview. “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.”
Trade union leaders said it was the biggest day of industrial action since the so-called “winter of discontent” in 1979, when much of Britain was on strike.