What do the US, Greece and The UK Have in common?

[SEC=UGA]

Angry public workers... Oh, and some serious problems with funding pensions for government workers.

 

London (CNN) -- Hundreds of thousands of British teachers, air traffic controllers, customs officers and other public sector workers went on strike Thursday, causing potential chaos for schoolchildren and travelers.

 

Workers are marching in many British cities, including London, where thousands of strikers marched peacefully in the center of the city, their route taking them near the prime minister's office at 10 Downing Street.

 

"We've paid into our pensions, we've paid our taxes," striking adult education tutor Annie Holder said, adding that she was "really angry about the government's politically motivated attempt to steal our pensions."

 

She blamed "the banking sector" for the country's budget woes.

 

And she rejected rhetoric from opponents of the strike about the public sector's "gold-plated pensions."

 

"Our pension will be about 60 pounds ($96) a week. It's hardly gold-plated. We'll have to work much harder and pay more," Holder said.

 

Police in London said they had made 24 arrests in total, as of mid-afternoon.

 

Since Thursday morning, 18 had been arrested for offences including possession of drugs, criminal damage and breach of the peace, the police said, with a further six detained overnight in Trafalgar Square.

 

They declined to estimate the size of the crowd, but one union said it was in the tens of thousands in London.

 

Striking British teachers 'furious'

 

CNN reporters in the central Whitehall area say there are more police and media present than protesters, and that there have been minor scuffles and arrests.

 

Four unions have told their members to stop work over planned government changes to the pension system.

 

Perhaps ironically, state pension staff are among those on strike as members of the Public and Commercial Services Union.

 

Three teachers' unions are also on strike -- the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, and the University and College Union, which together have more than 350,000 members.

 

The PCS, Britain's fifth biggest union, boasted it had 84% participation from its 300,000 members.

 

Some 80% of schools across the country are closed or partially closed as a result of the strike, the National Union of Teachers said, and there are fears that airports and ports will be snarled as well.

 

Nine out of ten police staff who answer calls from the public were on strike, London's Metropolitan Police said.

 

The National Union of Teachers says the strike is because "the government is planning to cut your pension. They want you to pay more, work longer and get less," arguing that because pensions are "deferred pay... you are effectively being asked to take a pay cut."

 

The government, a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, is trying desperately to slash government spending in the face of huge deficits.

 

Danny Alexander, the number two official in the British Treasury, argued earlier this month that "It is unjustifiable that other taxpayers should work longer and pay more tax so public service workers can retire earlier and get more than them."

 

"It is the employees who are benefiting from longer life and generous pensions, but it is the taxpayer who is picking up the tab," he said.

 

Alexander, a Liberal Democrat, said the changes the government was proposing aimed to ensure that "public service workers continue to receive among the best, if not the best, pensions available."

 

Holder, the striking teacher, said the government's explanations for planned changes to the pension system were "nonsense."

 

The government's Cabinet Office said less than half of PCS workers went on strike Thursday.

 

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, a Conservative, said Wednesday that the strike was "premature" while negotiations between the government and unions were still going on.

 

He argued that only a minority of civil servants and teachers had voted to strike.

 

Union leader Dave Prentis warned last week that if the government does not change course on pension reform, the country could face the biggest strikes since 1926. Between 1.5 million and 1.75 million workers participated in a general strike lasting nine days that year.

 

Prentis, the head of Britain's largest public-sector union, Unison, issued a similar warning in 2005.

 

Unison is not participating in Thursday's strike but has not ruled out holding one in the autumn if the government presses ahead with it plans.

[peepinmofo]

What will they have in common in time? Rioting. Lots of it.

[Ursa Majoris]

the govt should lock them out, then they'll be begging for their jobs back.

I think there's just a tad more to it than that regardless of which country it is in. Is $96 / week really a gold plated pension bearing in mind that people have been paying in to these for decades?

[Duchess Jack]

I was watching the Daily Show the other day (fancy that) and Stewart broke down the numbers. We are a few hundred dollars more in debt (per capital) than Greese. Except, they get like two months vacation a year, can retire at 52 with 80% of their pay and apparently nobody is paying their taxes. We got screwed.

[Big F'n Dave]

I was attempting to make a joke ... but I failed

Shocking. :

[mrip]

People don't want taxes raised, people get pissed when the govt starts enforcing the taxes already on the books, people get pissed when their benefits get cut, people get pissed when the military budget is cut, people get pissed when education funding is cut, blah blah blah. What the hell is a government supposed to do? When tax revenue is down and your country is bankrupt cuts have to come from somewhere. People don't seem to get it that countries are about to collapse. Perhaps a cut to your pension isn't so bad in comparison. Perhaps paying a bit more in taxes isn't so bad in comparison. Perhaps the 40% of the Greek population that just doesn't pay taxes at all should start doing so instead of rioting. In the US, perhaps people should think about whether continuing to spend $6 on the military for every $1 on education is sustainable. Everyone is freakin out of their minds.

 

and I actually got a nice chuckle out of the lock out bit above....

Edited June 30, 2011 by mrip

[darin3]

Shocking. :

[WaterMan]

It's time to end these wars. Osama is dead. If terrorists are going to attack, it won't be because we are trekking over mountains in Afghanistan or "securing" Iraq.

[gbpfan1231]

It's time to end these wars. Osama is dead. If terrorists are going to attack, it won't be because we are trekking over mountains in Afghanistan or "securing" Iraq.

I agree

[Ursa Majoris]

It's time to end these wars. Osama is dead. If terrorists are going to attack, it won't be because we are trekking over mountains in Afghanistan or "securing" Iraq.

Here's another 4 trillion reasons to do so.

[Yukon Cornelius]

In the US, perhaps people should think about whether continuing to spend $6 on the military for every $1 on education is sustainable. Everyone is freakin out of their minds.

this

[WaterMan]

Here's another 4 trillion reasons to do so.

 

Nice comments on that story:

 

CJ 2 days ago

 

What a waste of $. Our cities and infrastructures are falling apart. Hey I've got an idea, why don't we take a 10 year break from war and rebuild America?

 

eric 2 days ago

 

I'm going to make a bold wager here that this lousy economy is going to adversely effect more Americans that terrorist could ever hope to.

 

SF Badger 2 days ago

 

The Defense Budget has almost doubled in the past ten years...as our infrastructure and education system goes down the drain. Nobody in Was DC has the guts to reset the size of our war machine.

[Avernus]

add Italy to this list come September....Italy is following Greece in a neighborly fashion..