Half a million people join strikes in biggest day of industrial action in a decade

The biggest strike in a decade took place on Wednesday, with up to half-a-million workers walking out in increasingly bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. Members of seven trade unions took industrial action, affecting schools, universities, trains and buses. Thousands of schools closed for the day because of action by the National Education Union, although many parents only found out on Wednesday morning if their children would have to stay at home. Civil servants, train and bus drivers and university staff also stopped work on the biggest single day of strikes in a decade.