Public Sector Workers’ General Strike in Britain

Over 750,000 British public sectors workers stayed home from work yesterday in the largest public sector strike in decades. As a result, 6,000 schools were closed and 5,000 more were partially shut down, according to Democracy Now, over half the nation’s total. Additionally, airports, courthouses, benefits offices, galleries and museums were also disrupted, The Guardian reported. Even UK Border Agents walked off the job at Heathrow.

The workers were protesting the gutting of their state-sponsored pension plans, which will result in a large de facto pay cut now, more years on the job before eligible for retirement, and less money in their pockets when they do retire. Younger workers will have to work until they are 68 under the new plan and pay 50% more toward their pensions each month than workers currently pay. According to the Teacher Solidarity blog, teachers will have suffered a 12% de facto pay cut by next April with the increases in pension payments factored in.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) carried banners demanding "Fair Pensions for All," in a show of solidarity with other workers in the private sector.  Joining NUT were two other teachers unions, ATL and UCU, and the civil service union, PCS. Rallies and demonstrations were held throughout the country. In Scotland, a nuclear submarine base was impacted by the strike. Many of the protesters demanded that the rich bankers bail out the nation.

Increasing Violence and Repression Against UK Students

Photo by ucloccupation

The recent repression of student and teacher protesters in Britain has been the worst in decades. The police have savagely beaten protesters and carried out mass arrests during and after the demonstrations, utilizing both standard policing practices and counter-insurgency espionage tactics.

In the most recent demonstrations, at least 50 protesters were injured by police. Disabled journalist and blogger Jody McIntyre was beaten by police and yanked from his wheelchair on two separate occasions. Friends and family who tried to defend him were also beaten by batons. Numerous minors were also beaten, one so badly that he was vomiting blood. Alfie Meadows suffered a stroke and required hours of brain surgery after being beaten by cops.

Students are protesting the trebling of university fees and plans to abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance for poor high school students.  However, they are also furious that PM Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg are calling the cuts necessary to prevent future debt. In other words, British youth are supposedly being screwed today, to protect them tomorrow. Yet the cuts will prevent many from getting a college education in the first place, thus screwing them today AND tomorrow.

Students Under Attack in the U.S.

Consider the domestic parallels. UC has been raising tuition almost yearly; twice in some years. When I attended UC Berkeley in the 1980s, I paid only $600 per semester and could support myself entirely working part-time without incurring any debt. In November, UC regents approved an 8% increase to over $12,000 per year for California residents. This virtually guarantees that every student will be forced to incur enormous debt in exchange for an education and the chance to work (unemployment for college grads is currently around 5%, compared with 15% for high school dropouts). Even with a slightly better job market with those with a college degree, compensation and working conditions have been declining steadily for the past 40 years, making it harder to pay back the debt.

Class Warfare Against Students and Workers

 

The escalating police violence in Britain is intended to intimidate anyone opposed to the austerity measures being imposed for the benefit of corporations and banks. Similar levels of repression have been occurring against those protesting austerity in Spain, France, and other countries, as well. Spanish air traffic controllers were forced back to work by the military. Both cops and soldiers were utilized against striking truck drivers in Greece. 

Pundits and politicians in Britain have been arguing about whether they have been too lenient with demonstrators, with some calling for water cannons, and increasing use of truncheons, batons and  “kettling” (corralling and detaining large numbers of protesters in the streets, without food, water or access to toilets). Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said that the police had used restraint against protesters who attacked Prince Charles by not firing on them.

As governments resort to increasing levels state violence against students and workers, the façade of democracy and social civility starts to crumble, revealing the true role of the police and military as defenders of class privilege. This is clearly fanning the flames of discontented youth, as they pour into the streets of Britain and elsewhere to demand their fair share of the pie.

Growing Student Unrest

Britain is planning to hunt down student protesters who occupied Tory headquarters last week and, according PM David Cameron, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation, said that the man who threw a fire extinguisher from the top of the Millbank building should be “charged with attempted murder.” 

Students protests have been increasing throughout the world. Students have played a major role in the on-going protests in France over Sarkozy’s pension cuts. Students have also protested the deteriorating quality of education, fee hikes, “reform,” and privatization in Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina. In the U.S., University of California officials want to expel a student for occupying Wheeler Hall during anti-fee hike protests in Berkeley. Students have also recently been punished for protesting at Ben-Gurion University, in Israel, for the rights of school employees.

The British response to last week’s protests may seem excessive. Yet, as governments throughout the world continue to use the economic crisis as an excuse to gut social programs, jobs, education, health and welfare, while bailing out and subsidizing the rich, they are terrified that the masses will awaken violently. Therefore, their response to opposition will be swift, severe and increasingly violent.