Strikers to shut down hundreds of schools in region

HUNDREDS of schools in Yorkshire will be closed today as the biggest strike in five years also threatened disruption to courts and travel.

Hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other workers have ignored warnings from the Prime Minister that there is no case for industrial action to walk out for 24 hours in protest at controversial plans to change their pensions, cut jobs and freeze pay.

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union leader Mark Serwotka said it was the most important strike in his union’s history, adding: “Everything we have ever worked for is under attack.”

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But Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday launched a fresh attack on the strike and insisted the Government’s proposals were fair, while business leaders warned the action will have a “significant impact” on industry.

Picket lines will be mounted outside school gates, courts, jobcentres, Parliament, driving test centres and Government buildings by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), University and College Union and the PCS.

Police leave has been cancelled in London, where union leaders and thousands of activists will take part in a march, followed by a rally in Westminster.

In Yorkshire, more than 400 schools are expected to be closed, leaving thousands of parents facing difficulties looking after their children.

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Meanwhile Selby MP Nigel Adams has criticised North Yorkshire County Council for spending £200,000 a year on salaries of full- time and part-time trade union activists, an intervention branded “unhelpful” and “inflammatory” by councillors. Mr Adams has written to council leader John Weighell saying the salaries of union officials should be paid for by the unions “some of which are funding political activity aimed at disrupting local services and jeopardising the economic recovery”.

Council deputy leader Carl Les said the intervention was “unhelpful” and “inflammatory” to unions and the salaries had to be paid to comply with the law.

“If Mr Adams is unhappy with this legislation then he should work for change as part of his duties as an MP rather than criticising the county council for complying with the law,” he added.

Union officials expect that around one in five of the UK’s 500,000 civil servants will take part in the strike, but Downing Street said it thought the “vast majority” of courts, job centres, and Revenue and Customs call centres would remain open as usual.