30/11/2011

Public Sector Strikes 'Will Not Achieve Anything'

Public workers are striking today over pension cuts with over 1,000 demonstrations set to take place across the UK.

The walkout has been hailed as the biggest of its kind for generations. Hospitals, schools, ports and government offices will be closed or disrupted during the strike.

This strike action follows the unions’ objections to making workers work longer and pay more to earn their pensions.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has said that today’s strikes “will not achieve anything” and has urged the unions to resume negotiations. It is the Chancellor’s belief that if anything the demonstrations today will just make the economy weaker.

Meanwhile yesterday Labour Leader Ed Miliband said that he would not condemn the strikes.

Mr Miliband told ITV Daybreak he hated the "terrible" disruption the strike would cause, but would not condemn it. He said planned pension changes were "a 3% tax rise on some of the lowest-paid workers in the country" and unfair.

(LB)

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