25,000 public sector workers strike over pensions dispute

Manchester city centre was filled with over 25,000 striking public sector workers on November 30th, protesting against the planned changes to their pensions.

Picket lines were set up at dawn and teachers, health workers and social workers were among those who joined the mass two-hour rally, marching from Castlefield, down Deansgate and towards Oxford Road.  They were addressed by trade union bosses at Whitworth Park.

Public transport was disrupted and roads were closed. Manchester’s public services ground to a halt, with only five out of 158 schools staying open and just one trial taking place at the city’s two crown courts.

Rena Wood, from Manchester Unison issued rallying cries to those not on strike, saying, “Stand side by side to fight because everybody deserves a decent pension.”

David Cameron said of the negotiations, “we have to make sure that public sector pensions are good for public sector workers, but affordable for everyone else who is going to work and contributing to them.”

Figures from the Cabinet Office suggest that over 900,000 people were striking on November 30th.