'One pay cheque away from homelessness': Striking workers tell their stories

Up to half a million workers went on strike on Wednesday – with large numbers of state schools in England forced to close their doors.

More than half (54%) were either fully closed or restricting access to pupils as teachers took industrial action, the Department for Education suggested.

The walkouts, which also involved civil servants, rail workers, bus drivers, border force workers and university staff, were the biggest in a decade.

The action is centred around demands for pay rises matching inflation, which ministers say they can’t afford.

Civil servant Ellie Clarke, 31, who works at the Cabinet Office, said she was “one pay cheque away from homelessness” after a decade of real-terms cuts to her wages.

Ms Clarke said she is “terrified every day” as food costs and bills spiral in the cost of living crisis.

“We are just living in poverty. There is absolutely no chance we could go to the theatre or even just have some dinner with friends,” she commented.

Primary school teacher Clodagh Glaisyer-Sidibe was on strike in Lewisham with a placard designed to “turn heads”.

It read: “I could make more £s on this pole.”

She explained: “As a slightly older woman, I didn’t feel I’d be making a lot of money as a pole dancer.

“So it’s showing just how little we’re getting.”

Tom Herzmark, a temporary lecturer at Brunel University, said it was “actually embarrassing to talk about my pay”.

“I had six different part-time contracts last year but my income was still below the tax-free allowance,” he told Sky News.

The tax-free threshold is £12,570. Tom lives with a friend to save on rent but says his earnings still aren’t enough to live on.

“I’ve had to make difficult decisions about when I spend my money. I don’t go on holidays. I don’t go to the pub. I don’t buy coffees, because it’s all too expensive,” he said.

“I’m paying to do the job with the hope that I will get a full-time position.”

In Walthamstow, northeast London, seven-year-old Daisy Halford joined her father on the picket line.

Holding a placard saying “This is our future” she said schools needed more money.

Her father is a secondary school teacher. Daisy said: “Our schools aren’t getting enough money and the government is taking money from our schools.

“I would like to get more money for our schools.”

How much are workers demanding, and how much have they been offered?

RMT members at Network Rail are seeking an above inflation rise and have been offered 5% for last year and 4% for 2023.

The union’s workers within train operators have demanded the same but have also been offered 5% for 2022 and 4% for the current year.

Train drivers’ union Aslef’s members want an increase linked to inflation but have been offered 4% by the companies – all represented by the Rail Delivery Group.

The Royal College of Nursing has indicated it would accept a 10% pay offer – having originally sought 19%. The government has stuck to the 4% recommended by the pay review body.

Striking ambulance workers affiliated to the GMB union have rejected an offer of 4% and want ministers to make a better offer, without naming an actual figure.

There are 100,000 civil servants belonging to the PCS union, in many different government departments. They are generally seeking 10%.

Teachers belonging to the NEU want a “fully funded above-inflation increase” but the government has said it cannot afford that and has offered 5%.

Peter Jeffrey, 48, who teaches at a primary school in Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne, said: “I’ve not had a real pay increase for 10 years. I’m effectively earning less than I was a decade ago.

“Any future pay rise is to come out of school budgets, meaning I have to think whether anything I get will impact colleagues like teaching assistants or dinner ladies, as well as things such as school trips, pencils and books.

“That puts us in a very difficult situation.”