The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. June 30, 2011 Hundreds Of Thousands Of British Public Workers Launch National Strike ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In Britain, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have launched a one-day national strike to protest sweeping cuts in government spending and changes to the country's pension system. Mark Serwotka is general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union. Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS Union: "We'll see everything from thousands of schools closed, to queues at airports, driving tests canceled, prisoners detained in police cells, court sittings shut and anyone trying to access the benefit or tax credit system will probably find their calls are not answered, so we think there will be severe disruption. We hope that when the government sees the strength of feeling amongst their own staff they will start meaningfully negotiating with us." .