Fresh 750k-strong strike likely in UK

The PCS civil service workers’ union, the NUT teachers’ union and the UCU lecturers’ union have agreed that they would take industrial action on the date, the Socialist Worker Online reported.

While a strike by the three unions will involve over half a million workers, parts of the 1.5 million strong Unite union as well as the Scottish teachers’ union EIS and the firefighters’ FBU union are also likely to join.

The unions believe fresh action is needed to revive the national movement against the government’s pensions reform program that called some two million workers to the streets of the cities across Britain on November 30.

“We need to get this out and about. We need the biggest vote supporting action we can get. It will reinvigorate and strengthen our campaign. This can form the basis for further unions joining us in the action,” Andy Reid from the national executive of the PCS said.

Unite and a number of other unions including PCS and NUT also rallied outside the High Court in London on Monday to appeal its decision to reject the unions’ call for a judicial review of the government’s plans to uprate future pensions using a lower inflation rise index than before.