An estimated half a million UK teachers, university staff, train drivers and civil servants walked out over pay in the largest coordinated strike action for a decade on Wednesday, with unions threatening more disruptions as the government dig their heels in over pay demands.
The last time the country saw mass walkouts on this scale was in 2011, when well over 1 million public sector workers staged a one-day strike in a dispute over pensions.
Government and company bosses are standing firm, however, over wage demands.
Mark Serwotka, head of PCS, the largest trade union in the civil service, said the government’s position was “unsustainable”.
“It’s not feasible that they can sit back with this unprecedented amount of industrial action growing, because it’s half a million today”, he told Sky News.
“Next week, we have paramedics, and we have nurses, then will be the firefighters”, he added, warning that unions were prepared to strike throughout the summer.
The latest official data shows 1.6 million working days were lost from June-November last year because of strikes – the highest six-month total in more than three decades, according to the Office for National Statistics.
In November alone, a total of 467,000 working days were lost to walkouts – the highest level since 2011, the ONS added.
Alongside the strikes, unions also staged rallies across the country against the Conservative government’s plans to legislate against public sector strike action.
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