300,000 public sector workers in Scotland on strike

AROUND 300,000 public sector workers in Scotland took strike action yesterday, forcing the closure of almost all of the country’s schools, the cancellation of surgical operations and disruption to public transport.

The biggest national strike for a generation saw thousands of Scots take to the streets to demonstrate against the UK government’s plan to make public servants contribute more to their pensions and work for longer.

The industrial action was part of a UK-wide day of strikes that saw two million public sector workers fail to turn up to work in a protest that business leaders claim will cost the economy hundreds of millions of pounds.

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In Scotland, a far larger proportion of schools were forced to close than elsewhere in the UK, with only 33 of Scotland’s 2,700 schools taking classes – a figure that comes to around one per cent of the total. England saw 38 per cent of schools remain open. The UK Department for Education said 13,349 out of England’s 21,476 state schools were closed. According to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), 42,500 teachers and associated professionals took part in the strike – 87 per cent of the total. They were joined by 138,000 other local government employees – the equivalent of 61 per cent of non-teaching council workers.

In the further education sector, there was disruption to classes with 17 colleges closing while 24 remained open.

The Scottish Government said that 1,969 – 38 per cent – of its 5,127 core employees joined the industrial action while 2,665 (38 per cent) of the 7,060 people who work for publicly-funded government agencies went out on strike.

Rallies were held all over Scotland as largely white-collar workers took to the streets. Angry union leaders warned that yesterday’s strike – the most widespread since the late 1970s – could be the first of many.

Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Grahame Smith said: “I hope there’s not going to be a protracted strike campaign, but I don’t think anybody should be under any illusion over how strongly people feel about this.

“If the government doesn’t see sense and doesn’t get back to some serious and fair negotiations, then I’m afraid this may be just the start.”

An estimated 50,000 striking health care workers led to the postponement of around 2,000 surgical operations, diagnostic tests and other hospital treatments across Scotland. A further 18,500 outpatient appointments, such as physiotherapy sessions and hospital check-ups, were also rearranged.

Although much of the expected chaos at airports failed to materialise, there was disruption to the transport network. Trains on the Glasgow underground were suspended for the day and council-run inter-island ferries on Shetland were not running – although some staff were on standby in case of emergency.

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Picket lines were formed outside hospitals and public buildings.

Among those picketed were the Faslane nuclear base, Edinburgh Castle, job centres, large tax offices, all main Scottish Government buildings, the Glasgow Passport Office, the National Museum of Scotland and the Forestry Commission.

In Glasgow, 10,000 protesters lined up in their unions and marched from the city centre to the Barrowland Ballroom at the Gallowgate. On the other side of the Central Belt, in Edinburgh, around 7,000 protesters blowing vuvuzelas marched to Holyrood.

Earlier that morning, Alex Salmond and his SNP MSPs had crossed a picket line to take part in a debate on public sector pensions. Labour and Green MSPs refused to go to the Scottish Parliament and joined the protests all over the country. Labour MSPs gave up a day’s pay to stand on picket lines, despite the position of UK party leader Ed Miliband to neither condemn nor support the strike.

Inside the Holyrood chamber, the SNP, Conservative and Lib Dem MSPs debated an SNP government motion branding the pension changes a “cash grab for the purposes of deficit reduction rather than a move to secure the long-term sustainability of public sector pensions”.

The Government motion was passed, although critics of the SNP government have accused ministers of “hypocrisy” on the issue, claiming that John Swinney is considering more severe pension reform.

Leading the debate, Mr Swinney, the Finance Secretary, said: “This is a significant issue for the people of Scotland and the strength of feeling is clearly able to be detected amongst those outside of this parliament and those in communities the length and breadth of Scotland.

“Nobody will be unaffected by today’s action.”

Scottish ministers held a meeting of their Resilience Committee where they noted that there had been no disruption to police and fire services, and ambulances were continuing to run their core service.

In numbers

300,000: number of Scottish workers who went on strike

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2million: number of people who took part in the strike in the UK

2,667: number of Scottish schools closed yesterday

42,500: number of teachers and associated professionals on strike

50,000: number of striking health workers in Scotland

2,000: number of operations cancelled in Scotlan

Colleges

MANY of Scotland’s universities and colleges cancelled classes as lecturers joined the strike.

While some universities continued as normal, holding graduation ceremonies, others effectively closed for the day, stopping lectures and tutorials.

Seventeen colleges were closed, while 24 opened with some disruption to classes.

The University and College Union said the industrial action had closed universities, including Glasgow and Strathclyde.

Dr Tony Axon, a union spokesman, said: “It’s been a massive turnout and people have not been going through the picket lines.”

Universities Scotland said the “vast majority” of universities were running normally.d

Transport

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THE Glasgow Subway was closed because its operator said it had “no choice” as it did not know how many workers would turn up.

No council-run ferries operated in Shetland, but emergency cover was provided by the Coastguard.

The Corran ferry, which connects Lochaber with Ardgour, did not operate but staff were available for emergency call-outs.

Some staff at Transport Scotland walked out, but operations were not affected.

No delays for passengers were reported at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Prestwick airports.

Hospitals

THOUSANDS of hospital operations and appointments were called off yesterday as health staff across Scotland took to the picket lines.

Around 2,000 inpatient operations and procedures were affected by the action, along with 18,500 outpatient appointments covering areas such as physiotherapy, chiropody and routine hospital check-ups.

But health boards said their contingency plans to continue to provide emergency surgery and care, along with essential services such as cancer and kidney dialysis, had worked well and many staff went to work to keep services going.

Courts

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JUSTICE ground to a halt in one court and continued in skeletal form elsewhere in Scotland yesterday.

Forward planning had been the order of the day to cope with the walk-out, and wherever possible yesterday was kept blank on court diaries.

The Crown Office and Procurator-Fiscal Service had vowed that “essential” business and services would be carried out.

One of the main hubs of the justice system in Scotland is the supreme courts in Edinburgh – the Court of Session and High Court – where business was heavily curtailed. Normally, about 20 courts operate in three buildings in High Street, but as few as three or four were running.

The appeal courts, both criminal and civil, did not sit.

Available resources were used to maintain the momentum of a murder trial which has been running for some weeks, and for a handful of civil cases.

Jurors in four trials at the High Court in Glasgow had a day off. The Scottish Court Service reported that all courts except Fort William, had been “open for business although with a reduced service.

Schools

ALL but 33 of Scotland’s 2,700 state schools closed yesterday as thousands of teachers took part in the first national walk-out by the profession for 25 years.

According to Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, 87 per cent of teachers and associated professionals took part in the strike – leaving parents needing to find childcare.

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Teachers are concerned about changes to the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme, which they claim will see them contributing more and working longer.

Most councils had taken the decision last week to close all schools after all of the main teaching unions balloted in favour of action.

The schools that opened yesterday were staffed by non-unionised teachers or staff whose union did not take part in the strike.

The Scottish Council for Independent Schools said all private schools opened as normal.