Two million strike in Britain over pension charges

The strike is being observed against changes to their pensions, after the government responded to slashed growth forecasts with fresh spending cuts.In what unions said was the biggest walkout in decades, only one school in 10 in England was fully open, hospitals were operating with skeleton staff and local authorities were paralysed.Striking workers picketed parliament and public sector buildings in central London and more than 1,000 demonstrations were planned across Britain during the 24-hour strike in scenes reminiscent of the 1970s.However, fears of long delays at Londons Heathrow airport, one of the worlds busiest air hubs, failed to materialise as two-thirds of immigration officials turned up for work.Cross-channel rail services were also operating largely as normally, as were the Channel ports.The strike is the biggest test so far of Prime Minister David Camerons Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, which sparked the unions fury by making public sector workers pay more into their pensions and work longer.Anger rose further on Tuesday when finance minister George Osborne targeted the pay of teachers, nurses and soldiers and revealed plans to cut an extra 300,000 public sector jobs as he sharply reduced Britains growth forecasts.Osborne infuriated the unions by announcing a new two-year, one-percent cap on public sector pay rises.On Wednesday, Osborne he warned that the strike would only harm the economy, and called for unions to return to negotiations.The strike is not going to achieve anything, its not going to change anything, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said.It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs.So lets get back round the negotiating table, lets get a pension deal that is fair to the public sector, that gives decent pensions for many, many decades to come but which this county can also afford and our taxpayers can afford.Cameron underlined the governments message, telling parliament he was angry that the strike was called at a time when negotiations are still under way and downplayed the turnout, calling it a damp squib.The unions were unrepentant.Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said the government has put the public sector under attack and the strike was fully justified.There comes a time when people really have to stand up and make a stand, he said.With the scale of change the government are trying to force through, making people work much, much longer and get much, much less, thats the call people have made.In Salford, northwest England, around 30 refuse collectors manning a picket line outside their depot dismissed claims that their pensions were gold-plated compared to those in the private sector.Neil Clarke, a union organiser with Unite, said: The government is attacking our pension schemes -- they are looking for public sector workers to contribute more, work longer and receive less in pension benefits.The average public sector pension comes in at 3,000 pounds ($4,650, 3,500 euros) a year. Could you live on 3,000 pounds a year?Passengers arriving at Heathrow airport reported few problems, despite prior warnings that delays of up to three hours were likely.A British Airways spokesman said: Weve had a positive start to the day and queues are pretty much as normal.There are reports that around two-thirds of the Border Agency staff are working at Heathrow.Elsewhere in England, the light rail train system was closed down by the strike in the northeast city of Newcastle, while commuters struggled to get to work in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.A giant union rally was to take place in the industrial central city of Birmingham and 300,000 workers were expected to walk out in Scotland.Under the governments proposals, public sector workers will be asked to work until they are 66 and increase their pension contribution payments.Staff face a lower pension payout, based on their average salary as opposed to the final salary schemes to which they are currently tied.