Around 2M strike in U.K. over public pensions

LONDON - U.K. border staff joined teachers, hospital workers and weather forecasters Wednesday in Britain's largest strike in decades, but arriving airline passengers appeared to escape the chaos that had been predicted.

The one-day walkout has been called to oppose government demands that public sector staff work longer before receiving a pension and contribute more money each month, plans that are part of government austerity measures to get a grip on Britain's high borrowing levels.

Labor unions said as many as 2 million public sector staff were joining the strike, which would make it the largest since the infamous industrial dispute known as the Winter of Discontent in 1979, which presaged the arrival of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister.

Protesters were also denouncing sharp public spending cuts, the government extended Tuesday. Following a current freeze on public pay next year, pay raises will be limited to 1 percent through 2014.

London's Heathrow Airport and scores of airlines had warned that international travelers could be held in lines for up to 12 hours at immigration halls as a result of staff shortages.

But airport managers said flights arriving early Wednesday from the United States, Asia and Europe were largely unaffected, in part because of contingency plans to draft staff in to man border desks. Those extra staff including members of Prime Minister David Cameron's policy unit and his press secretary.

"Immigration queues are currently at normal levels," Heathrow's operator BAA said in a statement. "There still remains a possibility of delays for arriving passengers later in the day."

Britain's government said less than a third of government civil service staff had walked out and that more staff than expected had showed at ports and airports. But more than half of England's 21,700 state schools were closed, and around three-quarters of schools in the U.K. could eventually be forced to shut early, the Cabinet Office said.

Some protesters wore red T-shirts with the slogan, "Get Angry and Fight Back," a variation of the British wartime propaganda poster, "Keep Calm and Carry on."

Britain's Chancellor George Osbourne understands the cutbacks are steep, but said they are necessary to help the United Kingdom weather the European financial crisis. "The crisis we see unfolding in Europe has not undermined the case for the difficult decisions we have taken, it has made that case stronger," he told reporters.

Cameron told lawmakers the government cannot back down.

"I don't want to see any strikes, I don't want to see schools closed, I don't want see problems at our borders, but this government must make responsible decisions," he told the House of Commons.

"We believe public sector pensions should be generous but as people live longer it's only right and only fair that you should make greater contributions," he said.

A government report found taxpayers contribute about 32 billion pounds ($50 billion) each year to public sector pensions, and warned the gap between contributions and payments could rise to 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) by 2015.

Treasury chief George Osborne said Tuesday the age for collecting state pensions would be raised to 67 in 2026, earlier than previously planned.

The decision followed an official forecast which marked down Britain's predicted growth to a feeble 0.7 percent next year, from the previous 2.5 percent prediction made in March.

Eleanor Smith, president of UNISON — the country's largest trade union which represents about 1 million health, education and law enforcement staff — said many joining the walkouts were striking for the first time.

"The government wants us to work longer, pay more and at the end get less. How fair is that?" said Smith, who joined a picket outside Birmingham Women's Hospital in central England, where she works as a nurse.

Maria Haverton, 36, a hospital worker, said joining the strike had been a last resort.

"We realize the government is having budget problems, but why didn't they see this coming a long time ago? I'm worried about my pension. I'm worried about my son's future," she said, close to London's King's Cross rail station.

Others stood outside publicly funded universities, complaining that education in Britain was already suffering with the cuts.

"It seems like the sectors that need to be protected the most — education and health — are the ones being the most affected," said Holly Smith, 28.

London police said two people were arrested after protesters supporting the strikes clashed with police in Hackney, east London.

Health officials said 60,000 non-urgent operations and appointments had been postponed in advance in England, while in Scotland at least 3,000 operations and thousands more planned appointments were canceled.

Botanists, nuclear physicists and catering staff at the Houses of Parliament — who formed picket lines outside the famous building — also joined the strike, while off Britain's northernmost tip, ferry services were suspended to the Shetland Isles as a result of the action.

However, at ports and airports, the initial impact on services appeared limited.

Debbie Arnell, a 42-year-old from Bournemouth, southern England, arrived at Heathrow early Wednesday after a holiday in Philadelphia, and said conditions were good.

"I have used this terminal seven times before and today was better than usual," she said. "They were even giving out free fruit and water, which they don't usually do."