TEACHERS and civil servants could strike again this year if negotiations with the Government fail over controversial pension reforms, a union leader warned last night.

The threats came in a day of action which closed 48 schools, and saw protests at JobCentres and Ministry of Defence sites in Oxfordshire.

Nationally, tens of thousands of public sector workers took action. Unions claimed 20,000 joined a huge march and rally in central London in protest at plans to cut pensions, which critics say would force people to leave teaching or quit pension schemes.

In Oxford, hundreds of teachers and civil servants attended a rally at the Town Hall, before marching through Cornmarket to Broad Street, carrying banners and shouting “David Cameron’s got to go.”

Father-of-three Roy Bentley, from Cowley, was among 150 University and College Union (UCU) members on a picket line yesterday at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College’s Oxpens Road campus in Oxford.

Mr Bentley, a lecturer in sociology and politics for the past 30 years, said: “We are hoping negotiations with the Government will be productive over the summer, otherwise there is a risk of further industrial action in the autumn.

“We are being asked to increase our pension contribution by 50 per cent, which, for the average lecturer, will mean an additional payment of £90 a month. A lot of staff will find that extra amount hard to find.”

Members of the UCU joined colleagues from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in the day of action.

Former teacher Kathy Wedell, 46, from Marston, Oxford, attended the rally with her son Isaac, seven. His school, St Nicholas Primary in Raymund Road, Marston, was among those to close for the day.

She said: “Our teachers are dedicated and going on strike is a last resort. The Government needs to listen.”

Some JobCentre staff from the PCS were also on strike in George Street, in the city centre, and at offices in Banbury, Abingdon, Didcot and Witney, and there was a picket outside the Ministry of Defence supply depot in Arncott, near Bicester.

Richard Kelsell, 63, branch secretary of the PCS at the Ministry of Defence in Oxfordshire, joined the Oxford rally. He said: “There are only token stoppages in the supply chain because if we stopped work, the soldiers on the frontline would not get their kit.”

Paul Smith, a spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, said 146 schools across the county remained open, with 96 partially closed.

He said there were two schools which failed to inform the council whether they would be open or not, but added: “Schools have kept parents informed about the closures (and) the council has kept parents informed.”

Oxford and Cherwell Valley College did not close despite the strike. Students aged 16 to 19 were asked to complete coursework.

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