Schools set to close as strike cripples services

Public sector employees up and down the country are staging a day of industrial action on Wednesday November 30 in protest about changes being made to their pensions.

Other workers likely to take part include traffic wardens, civilian police staff and citizens advice bureau staff, although those who deal with emergencies such as health workers, those at sheltered accommodation sites and who work with the homeless and in child protection will be working as normal.

The Unite, Unison and GMB unions have voted for the action, as have unions representing teachers and probation officers.

On Friday morning (November 25), 60 Warwickshire schools had confirmed they would close.

Members of the National Union of Headteachers have voted to strike for the first time in its 114-year history. Paul Wyllie, headteacher at Radford Semele Primary School and Warwickshire branch secretary for the union, said: “Headteachers can appoint a deputy to run the school, but it’s likely the deputies are going to be in a union as well.

“There has been a majority of people saying they want to take part in the action. The Government is taking money out of our pension to pay for the mistakes of others. We are paying for this doubly.”

Nigel Spence, spokesman for Warwickshire County Council staff who are members of the county’s Unison branch, said: “We want people to understand that there has been so much misinformation put out about our ‘gold-plated’ pensions. The average pension of a female worker in local government is £2,500 per year. That is not gold-plated.

“If we are paying people peanuts to do things like look after our senior citizens, what are we saying about how much we value these people?”

Workers taking part in the strike are to form a picket line at Market Square in Warwick from 10am to 11am, before heading to Birmingham for the Midlands-wide rally.

For updates about school closures, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolclosures