N30

Well, today marks the N30 Strike: 2 Million UK Workers to Protest Against Tory-Led Government Cuts - 'N' in this case standing for November.

The above picture is doing the rounds on Facebook and seems, quite aptly, to sum up the mood.

Harks back to Captain SKA's catchy tune Liar Liar, released last October, forewarning of the situation we now face.

'Half a million jobs' seems a little conservative (pardon the pun) in retrospect.

Wednesday 30 November will see the first mass strike across Britain for four decades, as public sector workers protest against pension cuts.

Some 17 unions, including the biggest ones Unite, University and College Union (UCU), Unison, various teaching unions and Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), have all balloted to join the national Day of Action.

An estimated 3 million people will withhold their labour, and many other actions are planned to highlight the injustices brought about by government spending cuts and austerity measures - which have produced a downturn rather than an upswing in the economy, and are harming the country's capacity to repay debt as well as support its most vulnerable citizens, say critics. - Ekklesia

There was a nice little note posted by Facebooker, Lord Leigh Park:

When the government decide we can have a day off for the royal wedding it doesn't damage the economy, but when the workers decide to strike for a day it costs the UK economy half a billion ... is there something funny going on?

To which a follow up posted by Stephanie Henderson pointed out:

They failed to report on approx £290M saved in wages and, funnily enough, pension contributions for the day....

Well quite, and indeed.

I'm off to help make up the numbers in Gloucester later. If you're wondering whether the strikes will affect your day-to-day, there's a helpful list on the BBC.