Public sector strikes live blog
? Latest on tomorrow's public sector and pensions strikes
? Why are public servants striking?
? Tell us your story - fill in this form to let us know details of rallies, marches and demonstrations across the country
? Check out our school closures map for the latest for your area
? Tell us why you are striking: paul.owen@guardian.co.uk or @paultowen
? Read more: Unions throw down gauntlet over pensions
Hello and welcome to the Guardian's strike day blog. Up to 750,000 public sector workers are expected to strike today over planned changes to their pensions.
A third of schools are expected to close and another third partially close while two thirds of universities have cancelled lectures. The government expects one fifth of Britain's 500,000 civil servants will strike. Benefits will go unpaid, court cases will be postponed, police leave has been cancelled in London and airports are bracing themselves for backlogs at immigration.
Roads in central London will shut as thousands of people march in demonstrations that will be echoed across the country. Some groups calling for peaceful civil disobedience are planning events in the capital. There were suggestions on the web that anarchists may target the events.
Both the unions and government are watching keenly to gauge the public tolerance to today's the disruption, to influence their future strategies.
The main march in London will meet at Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn at 11, moving off at 11.30. The route will take in Kingsway, Aldwych, the Strand, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Great George Street and Storey's Gate, where there will be a rally at Westminster Central Hall. The TUC says it is expecting "hundreds of thousands" of public sector workers to attend.
I will be covering events across the country live here, with help from my colleagues around the country, including H�l�ne Mulholland on the march, Dan Milmo at Heathrow, Steven Morris in Merthyr Tydfill, and Helen Carter on the picket lines in Knowsley. Jeevan Vasagar and Jessica Shepherd will have the latest from schools and universities, and Polly Curtis will keep us updated on the civil service.
You can read our front-page story on today's strikes here.
Amelia Gentleman has been speaking to benefits office staff fearful about what they see as an attack on their livelihoods.
Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services union explains why the public should support today's strikes.
The collapse of private sector pensions is one of the greatest outrages of our time. Just over a decade ago half of all private sector workers were in a workplace pension scheme; today it's less than a third. The cost of that decline will be borne by the taxpayer through increased eligibility for means-tested benefits such as pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit; greater health and social care costs; and an increase in our already shocking levels of pensioner poverty.
However, while pensions have been ripped away from ordinary workers, the directors of large companies continue to net very generous pensions ?
Don't tell low- and medium-paid workers on strike today in defence of their modest pensions that they are being unfair on the "hard-working taxpayer" ? as if public sector workers are not in that category too ?
On average, the public sector workers I represent can expect an occupational pension of �80 a week. They will also get the basic state pension of �102 a week. That combines to an income of just �4 over the official weekly pensioner poverty line of �178.
A Guardian editorial says that many aspects of the pensions system are not sustainable.
There need to be changes, which are likely to involve working longer and paying in a bit more, where that is affordable, as is the case with private sector pensions and the state pension. And the defined benefit commitment that has been promised to the unions is a benefit very much worth having ? as the millions who have lost it in the private sector know only too well. The unions need to be acutely sensitive to the limits of public sympathy.
Finally, here are is a detailed breakdown of who is expected to strike where, courtesy of Polly Curtis:
Schools
It is estimated that a third of schools will shut, with a further third partially closed. According to a survey by the Press Association nearly 8,000 schools will be affected in 143 areas. Big cities will be worst affected with Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, east London and Camden facing the most closures. Up to 20,000 private school teachers will also join walkouts. Some 70 are at Eton College, but they say they will "minimise disruption, [and] take the pensions issue forward by other means".
Colleges and universities
About 350 colleges and 75 universities will be affected by walkouts. None are expected to close but lectures and classes will be cancelled. None of the Russell Group universities are in public pension schemes so it is mostly staff at former polytechnics joining the picket lines.
Ports and airports
Between 12,000 and 14,000 UK Border Agency employees affiliated to the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) could go on strike. PCS membership is strongest at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports and the port of Dover. Managers have been trained to man passport control booths, but there are fears that non-EU airline and boat passengers will suffer delays, as they face lengthier checks when entering the UK. A spokesman for BAA, Heathrow's owner, said: "We expect there to be significant delays at the UK border for arriving passengers." PCS claimed that temporary passport checkers could struggle to detect forged documents, despite contingency training. However, airports sources played down the security threat, saying that delays at passport control are the biggest concern.
Jobcentres and benefit offices
Most will be opened by non-striking managers but are likely to offer a reduced service. Claimants who sign on on Thursdays will not have to do so and money will be paid into their accounts.
Courts
The Ministry of Justice says it has "robust" contingency plans and Downing Street confirmed there would be no closures. Some cases could be cancelled, with priority given to the most urgent family and custody cases. Unions say that people who are sentenced tomorrow on Thursday may have to spend an extra night in a holding cell, with due to a lack of staff to process their transfer to prison.
Whitehall departments
Junior staff in nearly every Whitehall department are PCS members and many are expected to join strike, as well as a rally being organised in Westminstes. Senior staff are not striking, so will keep the machinery of government ticking over. Downing Street confirmed a small number of No 10 staff are joining walkouts.
Driving test centres
More than 60% of the DVLA workforce are PCS members so there will be a greatly reduced service, with delays to registration of vehicles, and the issue of tax discs and driving licences. The DVLA expect most test centres to remain open and that driving tests due to take place on Thursday should go ahead.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/jun/30/public-sector-strikes-live-blog
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