i am clear that our children s education is precious, and they deserve to be in school today, being taught. the day also saw action by thousands of university lecturers, civil servants, and train and bus drivers. we ll have the details. also tonight. in memphis, national and local leaders pay tribute to tyre nichols, the 29 year old black man who died after a beating by police. one of the biggest theatres in the north of england cancels all its shows from the end of march, after losing all of its funding from arts council england. martial waits. rashford, and finished off by fred. and two goals in three minutes ensure manchester united are heading to wembley. and coming up on the bbc news channel, jofra archer is on target for england. six wickets for him on his return as they salvage some pride in south africa. good evening. as many as 500,000 workers have been on strike today across the united kingdom, in the biggest single day of industrial action in over a decade. marches
thousands of schools were forced either to close, or close partially, across england and wales as teachers took industrial action in their dispute over pay. many parents only found out this morning whether or not the strikes meant their children could attend school. figures from the institute for fiscal studies show that since 2010 most experienced teachers have seen their pay cut in real terms by 13%. but salaries will increase from next year for newly qualified teachers in england, they ll start on £30,000 a year. unions say there is a crisis in recruiting and retaining teachers. 0ur education editor branwen jeffreys reports. a cold start for these teachers on strike in essex. some toots of support from passing drivers. for karla, it s notjust about her pay, but also younger colleagues. having to take second jobs in the evening because they can t
come out on strike today and they have been on industrial action for a week now but this is the day they have walked out. the dispute is about pay and conditions. as you can hear, the beaks from passing drivers in support and also a rather upbeat playlist to keep people going on what is a very cold day to be out picketing, but do not mistake all that for a lack of determination. these workers say they have had ten years of their pay gradually being eroded stop last week, the civil servants that are in effect running northern ireland, the absence of a devolved government, made an announcement of £1a00 per person pay rise, but the unions rejected that and said because of the rising cost of living, that very high inflation rate, that did not amount to being a rise at all. in fact, in reality, it was a pay cut. the bosses of all the health trusts in northern ireland issued a joint statement saying they
# working nine to five # what a way to make a living #. fed up with their workload, angry about pay and pension changes, university lecturers say they have no option but to strike. shall we pop in here? i ve met freya, who teaches on degree courses, unsure what theirfuture is as a university academic. so i have to reapply for myjob every year. i have no guaranteed hours or guaranteed employment in future. the union says young academics could lose a third of theirfuture pension. there is a hole in the pension fund, but the size of it is disputed. the issues behind this strike have been brewing for years, but, most of all, the feeling that teaching in a university, which used to be a very secure job, is now much more vulnerable and uncertain. in belfast, support from passing drivers. lecturers at some universities in both northern ireland
to make a change, and i think that s where some of the frustration comes from. the union says young academics could lose a third of theirfuture pension. there is a hole in the pension fund, but the size of it is disputed. the issues behind this strike have been brewing for years, but, most of all, the feeling that teaching in a university, which used to be a very securejob, is now much more vulnerable and uncertain. in belfast, support from passing drivers, lecturers at some universities in both northern ireland and in scotland are also on strike. so what do students make of the disruption? it worries me a little bit. but i think, kind of, for me, i support it. i wouldn t want to be assessed on something that we didn t actually get taught, but i think at the same time, we don t mind too much,