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East Midlands On Strike
30 June 2011, 06:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50
Schools, job centres and courts are likely to be disrupted today due to a massive public sector walk out over pensions and pay.
The biggest strike for five years will see 750 thousands teachers,lecturers and civil servants across the country are taking action over the planned pension changes which could leave them working longer and paying more.
Prime Minister David Cameron has described the action by unions as "irresponsible" and called the plans to reform "fair" to the taxpayer and the public sector, and added that teachers, lecturers and civil servants are wrong to go on strike.
So how is it going to affect you?
Schools
It's already been confirmed that over 400 schools in the East Midlands are being closed or partially closed today, affecting thousands of children and parents that are having to take the day off work.
The NUT has estimated that around 85% of schools will be affected by the strike today.
Education Secretary, Michael Gove yesterday attempted to make a last minute appeal to teachers to call off the strike saying it's causing disruption for families.
But teachers like Andy Haynes from Soar Valley College in Leicester told Capital they've had no choice:
Ultimately this means thousands of parents are forced to lose a days pay because of the situation they've been left in as many have to now consider taking time off work to look after their children.
Father of two, Dom, from Nottingham tells us what he thinks.
Charlie from Derby is one of thousands of children in the East Midlands who won't be at school, he's been telling Capital what he'll be doing instead:
You can check out the full list of closures and schools effected by the strikes but clicking on the story below.
Travel
Despite delays at airports in London, the strikes aren't causing any problems for passengers flying into East Midlands.
Passport and immigration staff are some of the 750,000 staff to strike.
Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency, Jonathan Sedgwick, said they'll try their best to "minimise disruption and inconvenience to travellers" and that the "priority will always be to ensure that the UK border remains secure."
Despite this, the agency has written to airlines suggesting they advise passengers to travel on a different day.
Civil Servants
Loads of rallies and marches are taking places across the East Midlands today, as unions like PCS, UCU and Union are all involved in the action.
Job centres: Centres across the region and the rest of the UK will be closed or only offering limited services.
Driving Tests: The Driving Standards Agency is urging all test candidates to attend tests as usual saying that if there is a cancellation because of the strike they'll be given a new date.
PCS leader Mark Serwotka has even encouraged members of the public through Twitter who have never taken part in a strike before to make this national action the first.
