London, Europe Brief News – As many as 475,000 union members are on strike in the UK, demanding pay rises that do more to combat the cost-of-living crisis.
Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants, and train drivers walked out over pay in the largest coordinated strike action for a decade on Wednesday.
UK unions also threatened more disruption as the government digs its heels in over pay demands.
Many were given salary increases of less than 5% last year, even as inflation climbed above 10%.
The mass walkouts across the country shut schools, halted most rail services, and forced the military to be put on standby to help with border checks on a day dubbed “Walkout Wednesday”.
According to unions, as many as 300,000 teachers took part, the biggest group involved, as part of wider action by 500,000 people, the highest number since 2011, when civil servants walked out en masse.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the strikes which forced millions of children to miss school. “I am clear that our children’s education is precious and they deserve to be in school today being taught,” he said.
Mary Bousted, General Secretary of National Education Union, told Reuters that teachers in her union felt they had no choice but to strike as declining pay meant high numbers were leaving the profession, making it harder for those that remain.
“There has been over the last 12 years a really catastrophic long term decline in their pay,” she said outside a school in south London.
“None of the people behind me want to be on strike today but they are saying, very reluctantly, that enough is enough and that things have to change.”
