Public sector workers take to the streets to voice their anger

They were among thousands of public sector employees across the area - and an estimated two million across the UK - making a stand against the Government’s proposed changes to their pension arrangements.

A crowd, many armed with placards and wearing union T-shirts, turned out in solidarity to listen to union talks at a cross-union rally at Market Square in Warwick, while many made the trip to Birmingham for a Midlands-wide demonstration.

As well as parents having to take a day off work or make alternative childcare arrangements, the disruption spread to many other services.

The doors of Kenilworth Children’s Centre, Castle Farm Recreation Centre in Kenilworth and St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre in Warwick were closed, while Newbold Comyn Leisure Centre closed at lunch time.

Health workers taking part in the strike meant that no routine blood tests took place at Warwick Hospital or University Hospital in Coventry and other routine procedures were postponed or delayed, although emergency care was provided as normal.

Striking employees at Warwick Hospital, which is run by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT), formed a picket line outside the hospital, while demonstrators were also seen outside the Justice Centre in Leamington.

Ian Ramsay, secretary of SWFT’s Unison branch, said: “Our members did not cause this financial crisis and feel they should not be made to pay for it.

“Many feel if they do not make a stand now then the next area ministers will try to change is their terms and conditions, along with a complete privatisation of the NHS.”

• In an online poll run on the Courier’s website on the day of the strike, 68 per cent of respondents said they supported the workers taking part, while 32 per cent did not.

THE Courier spoke to some of the public sector workers from around Warwickshire who braved the cold to make a stand in the centre of Warwick against the Government’s proposed changes to their pensions.

Pat Herlihy, 52, Unison branch chairman for Warwickshire Police staff and former police officer, said: “We are not happy about having to go on strike. It’s not something we choose to do lightly.

“We hope the Government will rethink its attitude towards the public sector. I would ask our MPs in Warwickshire to put pressure on the Government.

“There is sufficient money for pensions which is why we have this sense of betrayal.”

Martin McMahon, A-level philosophy teacher and National Union of Teachers representative at Kenilworth School, said: “We are fighting for a future in which high quality graduates can be attracted into the teaching profession.

“Since 1923, £46 billion more has been put into the teachers’ fund and then taken out. What the Government is doing is actually theft.

“I don’t think it’s good for our children to be in a society where the Government steals from our pensions.”

Sixty-year-old probation officer Brian Weatherall, a member of National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO), said: “I am supporting my younger colleagues. They are the ones who are going to be affected in a very drastic way.

“I have been in my job for 35 years and this is the worst situation for several decades.”