Council services all over Shropshire were closed on Thursday 22 September as over 1,000 local government workers struck against the council’s cuts plans, which include a proposed pay cut of 5.4%. 500 workers attended a rally at Shirehall in Shrewsbury.
250 striking workers in Birmingham also rallied outside the Liberal Democrat conference on Wednesday 21 September as they walked out in protest at council plans to impose new contracts that could see some workers taking a pay cut of up to 33%. 2,500 workers also struck on Wednesday 21 September in Doncaster, where council bosses plan a pay freeze until 2013 and pay cuts of over 5%.
Education and health workers in Northern Ireland will strike for a day on Wednesday 5 October as the threat of public service cuts mounts.
The strikes are part of a growing pattern of “little bangs” leading to the larger set-piece confrontation on 30 November.
Unions must work out strategies for action to connect up these disputes and turn them into proactive struggles designed to force employers back rather than registering a token gesture of displeasure at their schemes.
