Teachers and lecturers in London pension strike

Union members are opposing Government plans to make teachers and lecturers pay more and work longer for their pensions and get less in retirement. Next week sees the first stage of a 50 per cent increase in pension contributions for teachers and lecturers, despite evidence that the cost of their pensions is actually falling following changes made in 2007.  
 
UCU and NUT members will march through central London, with protestors due to assemble outside Malet Street from 11am and set off at 11:45am. Speakers at the pre-march rally at Malet Street include writer, political commentator and activist Owen Jones.
 
Marchers will then make their way through Bloomsbury, down Shaftesbury Avenue, along Charing Cross Road, down Whitehall and across Parliament Square to the Department for Education (DfE). At approximately 1pm there will be a rally outside the DfE where there will be speeches from UCU and NUT members and the children's laureate Michael Rosen.
 
The Twitter hashtag for the strike is #m28 and there will be a with photos and updates from picket lines, the march and rallies. A map of the route can be found here.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'UCU members are unlikely militants and would much rather be doing their jobs then taking strike action and losing a day's pay. However, it is not fair for ordinary people to suffer huge cuts in their standards of living at a time when the Government is handing out huge tax giveaways to big business and high earners.'
 
NUT general secretary, Christine Blower, said: 'Teachers cannot be expected to do anything other than defend the right to a pension which they have paid into in good faith, especially as the Government has shown no evidence that their pensions are either unsustainable or unaffordable.  No teacher wants to be in this position. Pension increases are just an extra tax on teachers, when the top rate of tax is being cut. It is the Government's intransigence and total disregard of the facts that has forced teachers to continue with this action.'