* YOU BEEN SNAP * HABARI ZA MIGOMO " 'Don't fly' warning as strike threatens airport chaos... and school's out as four in five set to be shut by teacher walkout"

• Air passengers are urged to 'travel on an alternative day'
• Those who miss connections 'will have no rights'
• Union leader warns of 'theoretical risk' to security at airports
• David Cameron tells MPs: 'I don't believe there is any case for industrial action tomorrow, not least because talks are still ongoing'
• School support staff 'bullied' into action by unions despite no ballot

*MKILETEWA HAPA NA FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*

Air and ferry passengers are being warned there will be 'severe disruption' as border control workers are dragged into a strike over public sector pension reforms.
Up to 70 per cent of Border Agency staff could strike and a union leader has said the lack of appropriate staff at work could cause a 'theoretical risk to security'.
It is expected that as many as 500,000 people due to fly out today and tomorrow will be affected by the action.
The co-ordinated union action is also set to hit up to 15,000 schools, affecting seven million children, as union members defy calls from David Cameron to call off the industrial action

At Prime Minister's question time today he said that the strikes were wrong as discussions were still taking place and only a minority of unions had agreed to take action.
The UK Border Agency warned people to steer clear of flying if possible to avoid ‘severe’ disruption caused by immigration officials joining the strike which starts at 6pm this evening and ends at midnight tomorrow.

Return to chaos? The UK Border Agency has warned the public against flying after its staff vowed to join the strike over pension reform thereby affecting numerous airports including Heathrow (file picture)

The co-ordinated union action is also set to hit up to 15,000 schools, affecting seven million children"

Up to 70 per cent of UKBA members belong to the Public and Commercial Services Union and chaos is expected as staff desert their posts at air terminals thereby threatening massive queues at passport control.
Airport operator BAA which is responsible for Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, said: ‘Certainly there will be queues at immigration, there’s no doubt of that.’
A BAA spokesman said the strike would affect only arrivals, as checks for departing passengers were carried out by BAA staff, rather than the UKBA.

STRIKING EFFECT

Schools: Up to 15,000 will close
Airports and seaports: Severe delays expected
Courts: Urgent cases will be heard but trials may be postponed
Job centres: Jobseekers Allowance will be paid automatically with no signing on
Universities: 350 colleges and 75 universities to close or partially shut
Whitehall: Skeleton staff
Driving tests: Licenses and tax discs should be applied for online
Coastguard: Expected to continue as usual
Fire service: No strike but most staff are against increasing retirement from 55 to 61.

Union leader Mark Serwotka has also warned there was a 'theoretical risk to security' as a result of the strikes.

Problems are also expected to affect passengers transferring between flights, particularly non-EU flyers.

At Prime Minister's question time Mr Cameron reiterated that there was no reason for public sector workers to go on strike.

He said: 'I don't believe there is any case for industrial action tomorrow, not least because talks are still ongoing.

'It is only a minority of unions who have taken the decision to go ahead and strike. What I want to see tomorrow is as many mums and dads as possible able to take their children to school.

'What I would say is this: what we are proposing is fair, it is fair to taxpayers but it is also fair to the public sector because we want to continue strong public sector pensions.'

He also attacked Labour leader Ed Miliband, who did not ask about tomorrow's walkout, accusing him of being 'in the pocket of the unions'.

Yesterday he pointed out that public sector retirement funds are costing every household in the country £1,000 a year and must be reformed.

Mr Cameron today echoed his feeling that the strikes were wrong at a time when negotiations were ongoing"

Further highlighting the difficulties that those who have no choice but to travel tomorrow, the Civil Aviation Authority warned that people who miss connections as a result of delays could face problems.
A spokesman said: 'Passengers have no rights when it comes to being stuck in a queue at immigration.
'If there are knock-on delays and you miss your connection it is outside the airline's control so you're still not protected,' according to the Daily Telegraph

Mr Serwotka said attempts to train UKBA managers to take the place of passport-checkers would not prevent delays. He added: ‘It is likely that there will be severe disruptions and delays affecting both ports and airports.

‘We expect longer queues and for managers to waive controls they would usually undertake. There is a theoretical risk to security in terms of smuggling and security of the borders, which could be weakened.’

Negotiators: Len McCluskey of the Unite union and Mark Serwotka of PCS who warned of a security risk"

TEACHERS MAY HAVE TO INFORM HEADS IF THEY WANT TO STRIKE

Education Secretary Michael Gove has said that teachers wanting to strike could be forced to tell head teachers if they intend to strike.
Many schools will close - up to 15,000 - because they don't know if they will have enough staff to provide adequate supervision.
Schools are not allowed to close 'in sympathy' with strike action, but may be forced to as a result of the staff shortages.
Mr Gove told the Commons that these rules would be reviewed as he urged schools to stay open with CRB checked parent volunteers.
He said: 'I would far rather see schools stay open and offer a restricted curriculum than see hard-working families have to lose a day's pay themselves or have to pay for ad hoc and expensive last-minute childcare.'
He added that it was 'regrettable' that two of the teaching unions were planning strike action which was 'unnecessary while talks were still going on'.
'It will cause massive inconvenience to hard-working families and it will hit working women particularly hard,' he said.
Mr Gove has also written to head teachers asking them to keep schools open warning that strikes 'won't improve the prestige of the profession' an a column for The Sun today.
He concluded: 'This Government won't allow strike action to derail our drive for a better future for our children.'
Labour leader Ed Miliband said: 'I understand why teachers are so angry with the Government.
'But I urge them to think about whether causing disruption in the classroom will help people understand their arguments.'

He also warned that delays would be particularly bad at Dover and Heathrow where membership of the union is 'particularly strong'.

The UKBA wrote yesterday to airlines at Heathrow warning that ‘some passengers may experience delays at the border’ and ‘those passengers who can travel on an alternative day may therefore wish to do so’.

Sue Kendal, a PCS shop steward, said: ‘It takes an experienced immigration officer to be capable of detecting a forged passport. I think passport control will be extremely vulnerable.’

Jonathan Sedgwick, the acting head of UKBA, said: ‘We will do everything we can to minimise disruption and inconvenience to travellers.
'But our priority will always be to ensure that the UK border remains secure.’ Meanwhile, up to 20,000 schools are set to be hit by tomorrow’s strike action, closing either wholly or partially.

In total, up to 750,000 teachers and civil servants are expected to walk out in protest at proposed changes to their pensions.

Childcare agencies reported a huge increase in inquiries from working parents trying to make alternative arrangements for their children.

Job centres, tax offices and courts are also set to be closed or badly affected, while driving tests will be cancelled and customs checks at ports will be scaled back.

Industrial action by members of the University and College Union (UCU) is also expected to cause ‘significant disruption’ at 350 colleges and 75 universities. Even cells at police stations are expected to see a substantial backlog of prisoners building up.

With the lives of millions of working families due to be disrupted, the Prime Minister yesterday said changes being proposed for state employees were a ‘good deal’, insisting their pensions would remain ‘much better’ than those of most private sector workers.

He insisted there would be no U-turn on plans to cut the costs of ‘gold-plated’ pension schemes, and told teachers, nurses and police officers they were being given ‘really bad advice’ by unions.

 

Disappointed: Francis Maude,  and Danny Alexander said the talks were 'constructive' but said they were unhappy the strike was going ahead"

BULLY BOYS BLOCK STAFF

A militant union is ‘bullying’ 100,000 school support staff into joining teachers in Thursday’s mass walkout – even though they have not voted to strike.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has implored schools to remain open by any means possible, utilising an army of mothers and support staff.
But yesterday it emerged the GMB – which is not involved in this round of strikes – is telling its members not to cross the picket line.
The GMB represents some 100,000 non-teaching schools staff, from teaching assistants to dinner ladies, and caretakers to porters.
It is illegal for members of unions, other than those who have voted in favour of action, to strike.
However, under guidelines from the Department for Business, non-striking staff are not obliged to cross a picket line.
Meanwhile Unison, which represents some 200,000 school support staff, has told its members not to cover the jobs of striking teachers.
Their action will make it near-impossible for the majority of schools to remain open.

A Cabinet meeting yesterday was dominated by what looks set to become the Government’s defining battle, with unions planning a rolling wave of strikes over the months ahead.

Education Secretary Michael Gove revealed the Government is considering changing the law to require individual members of staff to inform employers if they intend to strike, rather than allowing their union to give blanket notice.

Mr Cameron, addressing the annual conference of the Local Government Group in Birmingham, warned that the pension system was in danger of ‘going broke’, adding: ‘In 2009, total payments to public service pensioners and their dependants were almost £32billion – an increase of a third, even after allowing for inflation, compared to 1999.’

The Prime Minister insisted it was right to raise the pension age as well as contributions – saying the balance between what public sector employees paid in and what the taxpayer contributed was getting ‘massively out of kilter’.

He said workers would still receive a guaranteed amount in retirement, based on career average salary rather than final salary, and benefits they had already accumulated would be protected.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said strikes would be a ‘sign of failure on both sides’ and urged unions and ministers to ‘get back around the negotiating table and sort this out’.

But Labour education spokesman Andy Burnham insisted the Government’s attempts to reduce the spiralling costs of public sector pensions were ‘reckless and provocative’.

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said Mr Cameron’s speech relied on ‘very dodgy’ figures and was ‘full of half-truths and misinformation’.