Britain is bracing itself for a summer of industrial unrest as thousands of British teachers and lecturers and other public sector workers staged a nation-wide strike on Thursday to protest against changes to their pensions being proposed by the Government.

Twenty-six per cent of schools in England were completely closed, while 22 per cent were partially shut, the Department of Education said on Thursday. University lectures were cancelled, and some job centres were closed across the country. While disruption to cross-border travel had been limited, the UK Border Agency warned of possible disruption as immigration officials joined the strike.

The Metropolitan Police said that 95 per cent of its call handlers failed to turn up for work on Thursday morning, as they too joined the strike.

Thousands also took part in demonstrations across the country, including in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds.

The strike was organised by the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers with members of the University and College Union, and the Public and Commercial Services Union joining in and is in response to changes to the pension system that will require teachers to pay higher contributions to their pensions scheme, as well as to work longer.

“It may take a lot more action to win our cause,” warned Ms Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, on Thursday. “We need fair pensions for all in the private and public sectors.”

The UK Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, who has launched a cross-departmental austerity drive to cull the country's fiscal deficit, condemned the strike.

“I don't believe there is any case for industrial action,” he told Members of Parliament ahead of the strike on Wednesday. Earlier in the week he had warned that the pension system was in danger of “going broke”.

The strike was also condemned by the main opposition Labour Party. “These strikes are wrong at a time when negotiations are going on,” its leader Ed Miliband tweeted on Thursday.

The anger on the streets was palpable, as protesters who took part in the demonstration in central London voiced their concern about the wider austerity drive.

“I really feel the Government is destroying our education system,” said Ms Fiona, a 53-year-old secondary school teacher of history from Hemel Hampstead who had never taken part in a union rally before in her 30 years of teaching.

“I have many colleagues who have never been political before but are frothing at the mouth,” said Mr Johnny, a 45-year-old special needs teacher who had been teaching for the past 20 years.

“This is the nearest thing to a general strike, the pressure is ratcheting up,” said Mari, a 59-year old teacher of English who will lose her job next year as a result of the cuts.

Living standards for low to medium range public sector workers could fall by nearly 10 per cent within the next year including pay freezes, and increases in pension contributions, according to research published by the Trade Union Council on Thursday.

“The burden of deficit reduction is being piled unfairly on to millions of low and medium paid public sector workers who did nothing to cause the crash,” said its General Secretary, Mr Brendan Barber.

While the government was keen to play down the scale of the strike and protests, its participants warned that the campaign against the austerity program had only just begun. “I don't think the government knows what they are up against,” said Mr Johnny, the special needs teacher.

“We are in a cold war phase but wait till the cuts really start to bite.”

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