Strikes: Schools, colleges and trains in Wales hit

Strikes have been taking place around various locations

Protesters outside the UK government building in central Cardiff

Wales and the rest of the UK have seen waves of strikes, but Wednesday will be a particularly big day for disruption.

Schools, colleges, trains and government services will all be hit.

Unions were urged to take action on 1 February to coincide with the Trade Union Congress's "protect the right to strike" day, in protest against plans aimed at enforcing minimum service levels for some sectors during strikes.

Here is a roundup of what is happening where and how it might affect you.

A picket line was set up in support of teachers at Llanishen High School in Cardiff during the first day of teacher strikes

Schools

Thousands of pupils have been told to stay home on Wednesday, with many schools closing and some classes in those that stay open not happening.

It is due to action by the National Education Union (NEU) across state schools in Wales and England, the first of four planned strike days over pay by teachers and support staff.

The extent of the action will vary depending on how many NEU members are in your child's school and how many of them are striking - councils have urged people to check their websites for the latest information.

Teachers want an above-inflation rise of about 12%, which Welsh ministers say they cannot afford.

Non-striking staff could be asked to provide those online lessons to pupils at home, which might not be live and could be accessed by pupils in their own time.

Also on Wednesday, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) begins industrial action short of a strike, which includes only doing some tasks in core hours and refusing to cover striking staff.

"Enough is enough" read a sign outside Cardiff University during the first strike day by UCU members

Universities

Tens of thousands of staff in the Universities and College Union (UCU), including lecturers administrators, librarians and technicians are taking part in the first of 18 days of action in February and March.

Staff are striking at 62 universities, including Bangor, Cardiff, Swansea and University of Wales Trinity St David, over pay and working conditions as well as pensions.

At 83 institutions, including Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of South Wales and Wrexham Glyndwr University, staff are walking out over pay and working conditions only.

Universities UK, representing 140 institutions, said some coursework deadlines had been extended and teaching rescheduled.

The union is asking for a salary rise worth either the RPI measure of inflation or 12% - whichever is higher - and also wants to end the use of zero hours and temporary contracts and tackle "excessive workloads" resulting in hours of "unpaid work".

The UCU said it was offered a pay deal worth between 4% and 5% in January.

The union wants changes to pensions that increased contributions and reduced future benefits to be reversed, saying losses will be "in the hundreds of thousands of pounds" for those beginning their careers.

The UCEA has warned any pay increase puts jobs at risk, and a pay award in August gave the lowest paid staff an increase of up to 9%, with a 3% rise for all others.

Universities UK said that without the changes in pension benefits employees would have had to pay much more in contributions.

Tye Holloway in Swansea says she sees both sides of the argument over striking rail workers

Train drivers

Drivers who are members of the Aslef union at 15 rail companies, including Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway and CrossCountry, are striking on Wednesday and Friday.

Drivers were offered a 4% pay rise for two years in a row, but this was based on several changes to working practices.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train companies, said it was disappointing its "fair and affordable offer" was not put to the union's members.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, which also represents a few hundred train drivers, confirmed its members at 14 companies would also strike on the same dates in February.

The RDG expects just under a third of services to run but with "wide variations" across the network.

It says services may also be disrupted on the evenings before the strikes and the mornings after, because many trains will not be in the right depots

Travellers who have already bought tickets for cancelled, delayed or rescheduled services are entitled to a refund or change of ticket.

They can also use the ticket up to 7 February if their train was affected by either the 1 or 3 February strikes.

Train traveller Tye Holloway, 14, in Swansea, said she could see both sides of the issue.

"It's fair enough if they're not getting paid enough, it makes sense that they're striking because they deserve better wages for what they're doing but it's also quite frustrating not being able to get places that I want to go, when I need to," she said.

"I understand that for other people who need to get trains to get to work and things taking buses takes like hours, buses take so long. So trying to get a bus to places where you could get a train in 15 minutes, it'll take like two to three hours and that's really going to affect a lot of people."

A picket line in support of action for PCS union members in Cardiff

Civil servants

About 100,000 civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) are also striking.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said it meant public services "from benefits to driving tests, from passports to driving licences, from ports to airports" would be affected.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), National Library of Wales, Natural Resources Wales, the Land Registry and the Senedd will all be affected.

PCS has been calling for a 10% pay rise, improved pensions, more job security and no cuts to redundancy terms.

The DVSA said driving and motorcycle tests would be hit, but theory tests and MOTs for cars, vans and motorcycles are expected to carry on as usual.

The DVLA said its online services and contact centre would operate as normal.

In Cardiff Bay, Welsh Parliament business due to take place on Wednesday has been rescheduled, with the full meeting in the Senedd chamber in the afternoon cancelled.

The Senedd building will be open for visitors as usual, but the Pierhead will be closed.

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