Striking UK state workers biggest in a generation challenge coalition

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers went on strike in Britain on Wednesday to protest over pension reform, in a walkout billed by unions as the biggest in a generation but derided by Prime Minister David Cameron as a "damp squib."
Unions and the government were each quick to claim victory, with labor leaders saying up to two million teachers, nurses, border guards and other workers took part. The government disputed the turnout and played down the strike's impact.
"Our rigorous contingency planning has been working well. Throughout the day it has limited the impact of the strikes significantly and as a result the majority of key public services have remained open," said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude.
The government said the unions' turnout claim was "wrong" and the true figure was "significantly less." Cameron described the strike "something of a damp squib."
Unions hit back, reaffirming their two million figure and rejecting again government public sector pension reforms they say will force people to work longer before they can retire and pay more for pensions that will be worth less.
The government, trying to turn around a debt-laden economy teetering on the brink of recession, says reform is needed as people are living longer and public service pensions are unaffordable.
"Government rhetoric today is as predictable as it has been shallow," said Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Britain's main union umbrella group.
"The biggest strike in a generation cannot be dismissed as a damp squib. The (government) claims that all low paid workers will be protected and that the average workers will get better pensions collapse under the slightest scrutiny," he added.
Union anger has been fuelled by new curbs on public sector pay and hundreds of thousands of additional job cuts outlined on Tuesday when the Conservative-led coalition government cut economic growth forecasts and said its tough austerity program would last until 2017.
The power of Britain's trade unions was curbed by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in the 1980s, but the public sector remains one of their strongholds.
Unions are threatening further strikes next year if the dispute is not resolved but analysts say a repeat of the 1979 "Winter of Discontent" that helped Thatcher sweep to power is not on the cards.
"It's very different to the 1970s and 80s. Many of the services that were run by the public sector have been privatized," said Tony Travers, a public finance expert at London School of Economics.
"There is not much evidence that rank and file union members want to go on long-term strikes," he added. "The unions have the power to make a fuss and wound but not kill."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/us-britain-strikes-idUSTRE7AT0UJ20111130