Up to 1.5 million local government workers went on strike across
Britain Tuesday, closing thousands of schools and disrupting travel
in a growing row over pensions.
Eleven labor unions combined to stage the 24-hour protest which
they said would be the biggest strike since 1926.
They intend to make it the first in a series of demonstrations
against a plan to force some public sector employees to work
longer, or face a reduced pension if they retire at 60.
The British action coincided with a huge labor protest in France
over a new job law. French airports were expected to be affected
but the Eurostar line from London to Paris was running.
In Liverpool, commuters faced disruption as the Mersey river
tunnels shut and ferries stopped running. All buses and trains were
cancelled in Northern Ireland and in London, 70 percent of schools
failed to open.
The Tower of London was also closed and the river Thames
anti-flood barrier reduced to emergency staffing levels. One
airport, the regional Leeds Bradford, suffered minimal delays.
At issue is the government's decision to scrap the so-called
85-year rule, which states that members of the Local Government
Pension Scheme can retire at 60 on a full pension if their age and
years of service add up to 85 or more.
The unions argue that other, better paid, public sector workers
are still allowed to retire at 60 and that the law targets those in
lower paid, more menial jobs. The change is due to come into effect
in October this year.
Britain's state and private pensions system is creaking from the
rising cost of an ageing workforce. On one measure, the country is
facing a ￡57 billion(US$100 billion) shortfall in retirement
savings which is around 5 percent of GDP.
Many industrialized nations, including the United States,
Germany and Japan, have similar problems. As people live longer,
birth rates fall and populations age, fewer people are working to
support an increasing number of pensioners.
A commission created in 2004 to look at the problem has proposed
raising the age at which people take a state pension from 65 now to
at least 67 by 2050.
Brian Strutton, national secretary of the GMB union, said his
workers just wanted to see fairness in the system. "Why should
thousands of low paid, long serving dinner ladies and classroom
assistants lose a quarter of their pension for retiring at 60 when
the better paid teachers they work alongside can retire on an
unreduced pension," he said.
(China Daily via agencies March 29, 2006)
