Up to 2 million strike over UK austerity cuts

LONDON?? Up to 2 million British public sector workers ? including border staff, teachers, hospital workers, weather forecasters and botanists ? were taking part in the country's largest strike in decades Wednesday.

However, despite dire predictions of long waits, airline passengers arriving in the U.K. were not experiencing undue delays early in the day.

Labor unions said as many as 2 million public sector staff were expected to join the one-day strike, called to oppose government demands that they work longer before receiving a public pension and contribute more money each month.

The pension reforms are part of a package of austerity measures designed to get a grip on the country's high borrowing levels.

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BBC News reported that government officials were expecting that just 13 percent of state-funded schools in England would be open, with 13 percent of others partially open.

More than 1,000 demonstrations were taking place across the U.K., the BBC said.

"The strike is not going to achieve anything, it's not going to change anything. It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs," Treasury chief and lawmaker George Osborne told the BBC.

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Len McCluskey, general secretary of the large Unite union, told The Guardian newspaper that "working people are being asked to pay for the economic mess caused by the greedy City [financial sector center] elite whose behavior this spineless government has repeatedly failed to tackle."

"This is a government that will snatch at least 16 per cent of income from public sector workers by holding down their pay for four years ? but leaves the banking tax at a paltry 0.08 per cent," he added. "The action today has been a brilliant display of courage and concern by public servants who are being demonized by a government that has lost its moral compass."

London's Heathrow Airport and scores of airlines had warned that international travelers could be held in lines for up to 12 hours at immigration halls as a result of staff shortages.

But airport managers said flights arriving early Wednesday from the United States, Asia and Europe were largely unaffected, in part because of contingency plans which saw bureaucrats drafted in to staff border desks.

"Immigration queues are currently at normal levels," Heathrow's operator BAA said in a statement. "However, there still remains a possibility of delays for arriving passengers later in the day."

Debbie Arnell, a 42-year-old apprenticeship assessor from Bournemouth, southern England, arrived at Heathrow early on Wednesday after a holiday in Philadelphia, and said conditions were good.

"I have used this terminal seven times before and today was better than usual," she said. "They were even giving out free fruit and water, which they don't usually do. It's almost like they have overcompensated."

A government report found U.K. taxpayers contribute about 32 billion pounds ($50 billion) each year to public sector pensions, and warned the gap between contributions and payments could rise to 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) by 2015.

Sharp spending cuts
Strikers are also protesting sharp public spending cuts, which on Tuesday saw the government extend pay curbs further. When the current freeze runs out, the government has set a 1 percent limit on public sector pay rises through 2014.

Announcing an extension of austerity measures, Osborne said the age for collecting state pensions would be raised to 67 in 2026, earlier than previously planned.

The decision followed an official forecast which marked down Britain's predicted growth to a feeble 0.7 percent next year, from the previous 2.5 percent prediction made in March.

Eleanor Smith, president of UNISON ? the country's largest trade union which represents about 1 million health, education and law enforcement staff ? said many of those joining the walkouts were striking for the first time.

"The government wants us to work longer, pay more and at the end get less. How fair is that?" said Smith, who joined a picket outside Birmingham Women's Hospital in central England, where she works as a theater nurse.

Health officials said 60,000 non-urgent operations, outpatient appointments, tests and follow-up appointments had been postponed in England, while in Scotland at least 3,000 operations and thousands more hospital appointments were canceled.

Botanists, nuclear physicists and catering staff at the Houses of Parliament ? who formed picket lines outside the famous building ? joined the strike, while off Britain's northernmost tip, ferry services were suspended to the Shetland Isles as a result of the action.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45489209/ns/world_news-europe/

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