Hundreds of public sector workers marched through Wrexham yesterday in protest against government cuts.
Wrexham Council workers stood alongside teachers, lecturers, police and court workers in a show of defiance against public sector cuts with many worried about proposed reductions to their pensions.
A march was held from Queens Square at approximately 12pm which saw hundreds of people marching through town blowing whistles and vuvuzelas.
The march ended at the Grove Park Little Theatre where a number of union leaders and other figures spoke.
Picket lines were held outside council buildings, Wrexham police station, Wrexham Magistrates Court, Yale College and Glyndwr University.
The majority of the town’s schools were closed as was Yale College; Glyndwr University remained open, although a number of its lecturers formed a picket line at the gates to university.
A large amount of council services were affected with most libraries, country parks and leisure centres closed, Contact Wrexham on Lord Street was also closed.
Below are a number of pictures taken from the march by Twitter user @dilgriff
Do you support yesterday’s strikes? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
Bernice
December 07, 2011 at 11:05pmGreat photos and well informed comments from Ray Mc Hale in reply to Mwilliams. Let’s remember that the media and the con/dem government are doing their best to pitch us against each other. Don’t let them.
It’s a scandal that private sector pensions are not encouraged by employers – who pocket tax breaks for paying for school fees, more tax breaks for private health care and tax breaks for paying into their own ‘better than the public sector’ luxury pensions.
I don’t begrudge small businesses their tax breaks and other perks of being self employed – they often have to work very long hours at busy times. I do begrudge our richest 1% who pay less in taxes than the people who clean the offices.
Airbus, Shell and similar companies are given our taxes in the form of grants and European funding – the not so private sector funded by tax payers who include public sector tax payers.
Let remember that it’s the rich who don’t pay their way who are getting an unfair share. Not the ordinary working person – public or private sector.
The UK is an increasingly unfair place – we need politicians who will work towards a fairer share for everyone of us – not just the few.
M Williams
December 01, 2011 at 6:00pmI do not support the strike.
If I was given the choice of paying for my own pension or their’s, I may want to ensure my own first – but I cannot buy the level of luxury they are striking for.
Ever wondered why our tax and council tax don’t have the buying power they should – perhaps it’s all going on these pensions!
We should pay people a fair rate and they should be able to buy a pension at the same rate as we do – not have this hidden whacking great bonus.
Ray McHale
December 02, 2011 at 8:45pmThe average pension for a woman working in Local Government is £2,800 per year. The average for all public sector workers is a little over £7,000 per year. If these low paid employees are made to increase their contributions by over 3% of their salary, many will leave the scheme. They will pay nothing towards their pension, and your taxes wil be used to fund their means tested benefits when they retire – only it will cost more. In the same way I will have to fund (from my taxes) your means tested benefits when you retire, if you haven’t paid into a pension.
When I started in Local Govt in 1982 my employer paid 4%, while I paid 6%. Some councils, like Kent, took pension holidays, paying nothing for several years, because investment returns were so good. The problem now is not that people are living longer – life expectancy has changed little for manual workers – but investment returns have collapsed. Big companies like Shell in Ellesmere POrt used pay nothing and even wanted to take money out of the pension fund in the 80s. They didn’t plan for the collapse of Capitalism. If they had planned ahead and paid a fair amount all the time, then there would be money in these private pension schemes to pay final salary pensions. Instead while Shell make £12 billion profit they close their pension scheme, so they can give more to share holders.
marc jones
December 01, 2011 at 5:24pmGreat pics Wrexham.com – the town hasn’t seen such a large demo since the one against Hamilton. The Little Theatre only held about 250 – my guess is there were more than that outside unable to get in.