Outside County Hall in Cardiff, pickets were delighted at the impact of the action which shut the Butetown Tunnel, a key road link from Cardiff Bay to the M4 motorway
Angie Shiels, UNISON’s Cardiff County branch secretary, said: “These proposals are an attack on our fundamental rights. We cannot allow our pension entitlement which we fought hard to achieve to be so reduced.
“My fear is that if they get away with this there will be no pension and, after all, we are not responsible for the mess the country is in.”
Angie, who works in adult services, added: “Only yesterday I read that a banker was getting an £8.5m bonus. It absolutely stinks. We are being attacked from all sides – jobs are being cut, services are being cut and they want to cut our pensions.
“I’m pleased that, along with our colleagues in the GMB, for the first time we have managed to shut the Butetown Tunnel and it has caused massive disruption.”
IT worker Ceri Vale said: “Pensions have been eroded, pay has been eroded and conditions have been eroded. They talk about public sector pensions being gold-plated, but when I retire at the age of 67 I am due to get £9,000 a year. The divide between the lowest and highest paid is widening.
“We are getting wonderful support and I’m ready to fight for the rights I have. I will carry on. If there is another strike I will be out.”
For Debbie Theuma, a teaching assistant, it was the first time that she had been on a picket line. “We are being asked to pay for what the bankers did and that is wrong. People are being asked to work longer to 67, pay more and get less at the end of the day.”
Ann Harrington, a social worker in children’s services, has worked for Cardiff council for 27 years.
“I think it is important that we are taking this action. If these government ministers think they are pushing at an open door then they are going to make it even worse.”
School worker Lynn Landeg said that she expected to receive only a pension of £3,000 a year. “The government should be hitting the bankers hard. I don’t think the government is looking at all the alternatives to cutting the deficit. With the pay capping announced yesterday, it is not going to get any better.”