In the biggest mass strike in the UK for a decade, up to half a million workers were taking action in increasingly bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.
“Walkout Wednesday” saw thousands of schools closed for the day because of action by the National Education Union (NEU) and picket lines were mounted outside railway stations, schools, government departments and universities across the country.
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Striking teachers from the National Education Union (NEU) board a Routemaster bus in Lewisham, south-east London, to travel into central London for the Protect The Right To Strike march and rally against the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Striking members and supporters of the NEU march from Portland Place to Westminster (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Rochelle Charlton-Laine, a Durham county councillor and art and design technology teacher, joins protesters from the NEU, Trades Union Congress, Public and Commercial Services, and University and College Union outside Durham town hall (Rochelle Charlton-Laine/PA)
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Protesters join the march to Westminster for a rally against the British government’s plans for a new law on minimum service levels during strikes (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Supporters of all ages made their voices heard in London (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, was joined by representatives of the Fire Brigades Union and the NHS Ambulance Service as they handed in a mass petition against the UK government’s controversial plans for a new law on minimum service levels during strikes to 10 Downing Street (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Universities across the UK were hit by walkouts, with lectures and seminars cancelled, as 70,000 staff started an unprecedented period of strike action. Meanwhile, cities across the country saw rallies and protests.
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Professor John Barry on the University and College Union and Unite union picket line at Queen’s University Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)
Schoolchildren join the National Strike Action Rally in Birmingham city centre (Jacob King/PA)
Protesters prepare for a TUC rally in central Cardiff (Bronwen Weatherby/PA)
Union members and supporters during the Protect The Right To Strike march and rally in Newcastle (Owen Humphreys/PA)
A protester at the Protect The Right To Strike march and rally in Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA)
Protesters gather at the Protect The Right To Strike rally organised by the Scottish Trades Union Congress, at the Donald Dewar Steps on Buchanan Street, Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Rail workers continued their strike action in their long-running dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions.
A member of the Aslef union holds a banner on the picket line outside Euston station in London as rail workers take further strike action (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Members of the Aslef union on the picket line outside London Euston (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
