One of the largest strikes in a generation by hundreds of thousands of teachers and civil servants had “minimal impact” on public services, despite the closure of more than 7,000 schools, No 10 said yesterday.
Up to 300,000 teachers and at least 100,000 civil servants walked out in protest over “unfair and unjust” changes to their pensions.
But with little disruption to airports, Jobcentres, or courts the action was dismissed as a damp squib by a Downing Street source.
Ministers will now use the higher than expected turnout at work by civil servants to strengthen their hand when they resume negotiations with the TUC next week.
In a day of claim and counter-claim between unions and the Government, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman recited a list of statistics designed to show the strike’s limited impact.
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She said that 80 per cent of civil servants were working, fewer than five courts closed and only 18 out of 750 Jobcentres were shut. “The numbers speak for themselves. There has been a minimal impact on services,” she added.
But a total of 13,000 schools had to close or send children home and many parents were forced to take the day off work in the biggest walkout by teachers for more than two decades. The Government’s hope that parents would step in to cover for striking teachers also failed to materialise.
Ministers claimed that only 100,000 civil servants had taken action (one in five) and fewer than half the 250,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union. The PCS, which mainly represents junior and middle-ranking civil servants, said that nearer 200,000 of its members had walked out in one of the union’s biggest ever turnouts.
“What today has shown is that the vast majority of hard-working public sector employees do not support today’s premature strike and have come into work,” Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, said.
“I am not at all surprised by the very low turnout for today’s action, with only around 42 per cent of PCS’s own members choosing to take part. It is simply wrong for their leader to be pushing for walkouts when serious talks, set up at the request of the TUC itself are still ongoing.”
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Mark Serwotka, the leader of the PCS, repeated the threat of sustained strike action this autumn by up to four million workers, saying that his members would start a month-long overtime ban from midnight.
He said that 85 per cent of his members had been on strike and even staff in No 10 had taken action. Union officials also pointed out that the PCS represents only half of all civil servants, so many officials would have come into work anyway. “The Government has been rumbled, and ministers are either badly briefed or they are lying,” Mr Serwotka said. “Robert Maxwell robbed private sector pensions, now this Government is trying to rob public sector pensions.”
As union officials clashed with the Government over the impact of the walkout, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, strengthened his stance against the strikes, saying they were “wrong”.
Addressing the Local Government Association conference in Birmingham, he promised that Labour would be “the party of mums and dads who know the value of a day’s education”.
He said: “I understand the anger of workers who feel they are being singled out by a reckless and provocative Government, but I believe this action is wrong. Negotiations are ongoing. So it is a mistake to go on strike because of the effect on the people who rely upon these services. And it is a mistake because it will not help to win the argument.”
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The speech was another sign that Mr Miliband is preparing to challenge the influence of the unions over Labour, despite being helped to victory in the leadership election by union chiefs.
He has signalled he is ready to introduce reforms designed to tackle the huge influence unions have over his party’s decision-making. They wield a 50 per cent block vote at Labour’s annual conference, with the three biggest unions, Unison, Unite and the GMB, holding a 40 per cent voting share between them.