http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066723/Public-sector-strikes-Airports-use-troops-border-controls.html?ITO=1490

Airports 'to use troops at border controls' in biggest outbreak of industrial action since Winter of Discontent

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066723/Public-sector-strikes-Airports-use-troops-border-controls.html#ixzz1evDh25uc


Airports could draft in the military to help man border controls during this week's country-wide public sector strike, it emerged yesterday.
Troops are reportedly on the alert and ready to step in to prevent immigration chaos as the country faces the biggest outbreak of industrial action since the 1979 Winter of Discontent.
Soldiers in London are being trained to stand in for staff at airports and ports while military police could be forced to fly back from Germany, according to the Sunday Mirror.

The walkout will cause disruption for millions of people, with nine out of ten schools closing, thousands of NHS operations cancelled, bin collections stopped, and international travellers trapped.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion Military Intelligence in London have been told to report for duty tonight, said the newspaper.

More,

They will be sent for a crash course tomorrow and Tuesday in how to keep Britain's borders safe, and 130 police officers have apparently been flown into London for the emergency training.
The extra staff could be needed at Britain's busiest airports, with Heathrow planning to fly planes half full, or at ports such as Dover, where ferry passengers will be worst affected.
An Army source told the Sunday Mirror: 'You have to wonder whether this is a good use of our guys who are facing cuts and redundancies themselves.
'We are not really sure that we will be providing the right cover.
'We wouldn’t know a forged passport from a real one and we are not sure what we will be able to learn in two days.'

Immigration Minister Damian Green last night admitted that soldiers could replace striking employees if not enough civil servants volunteer, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
He warned public sector workers that the country must not be allowed to grind to a halt, with ministers expected the action to cost the country around £500million.
Asked directly if soldiers could be called in, the Sunday Telegraph quoted him as saying: 'It is very important, as a trading nation, that we remain open for business.
'We are finding volunteers from all over Whitehall to come in and be trained so that they can be safe in manning the borders and keeping our borders safe and secure on Wednesday – which is the main priority – at the same time as allowing travellers and airlines to go about their normal business.'

Around 160 police are seconded to the UK Border Agency to investigate immigration crimes and most of these officers will be manning borders on the day of the strike, said the Sunday Mirror.
They will also be vetting travellers to ensure that they are not on the Home Office’s warning list of dangerous and undesirable visitors.
In a letter to forces, added the newspaper, police migration chief Olivia Pinkney said: 'The UK Border Agency plans to train approximately 120 to 130 officers to ­operate the immigration controls at the border – EU and non-EU controls.
'In particular the focus will be on criminality and counter-terrorist matters.'
The action will also cause misery for working parents who will have to make emergency childcare arrangements.
All three major teaching unions – the NUT, NASUWT and ATL – have voted to walk out. Of the schools likely to remain fully open, most will be free schools and academies. Many NHS trusts are drawing up contingency plans to treat only the most seriously ill patients.
Departments such as A&E, maternity, cancer care and those providing dialysis are expected to run as normal, but thousands of radiographers, pathologists, cleaners and porters are likely to strike.
The strikes come as it was today revealed that thousands of retired senior public sector workers receive pensions of more than £50,000 a year.
More than 100 have pensions exceeding £100,000 annually, according to information supplied in answer to an FoI request by the Intergenerational Foundation.
Senior ministers say unions have ‘no mandate’ to bring the country to its knees and are threatening to tighten strike laws to prevent future industrial action being triggered by the small numbers of workers who take part in ballots.
But Britain's most senior trade unionist accused ministers of 'deliberately misleading' public sector employees over the impact of the planned changes to their pensions.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber attacked ministers' claims that all workers on low and middle incomes would get as good, or better, pension terms under the new scheme.
'They have deliberately misrepresented the generosity of their proposals,' he said in an interview with The Observer.
Mr Barber told Sky News' Murnaghan programme he hoped the strikes would encourage the Government to negotiate.
He said: 'We have been talking for many months. Unfortunately, we have this position where we have simply not been able to reach an agreement.
'I think we will demonstrate that millions of public-service workers feel genuine anger and a genuine sense of injustice at the changes.
'No-one in our ranks takes any pleasure at the thought of that disruption this action will cause. But I do think it is fair that public-sector workers are able to make their case powerfully and strongly.

'I hope that will really make the Government think further and come back to the table with a genuine willingness to try and find a solution.'


Mr Barber admitted that longer life expectancy may increase the cost of pensions but said the increase amounted to an extra tax.
'There have to be sensible arrangements to ensure it is sustainable,' he said. 'But the three per cent increase in contributions that the Government is seeking to force through is not about the long-term affordability or sustainability. That is about the short-term deficit reduction targets.
'That just feels to the public-sector workers as an additional tax they are being asked to pay.'
But Tory deputy party chairman Michael Fallon told the programme the Government had made a generous offer three weeks ago and was still waiting for a proper response.
He said: 'It's still an unnecessary strike. Millions of union members did not vote for this strike.
'There has been a very generous revised offer two weeks ago exempting any trade union member from being caught up in the changes if they are within 10 years of retirement and increases in the accrual rate - which is something the unions have been asking for.
'We haven't yet had a proper response.'
Mr Fallon added later: 'We are prepared to go on talking to the trade unions to make sure it's a reasonable deal that does not penalise those at the bottom.
'These talks have gone on for nearly a year now and it's time for the trade unions to stop striking, get serious and come back to the table.'
Prime Minister David Cameron, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude and senior officials held crisis talks in Downing Street yesterday to prepare for the strike over the planned pensions changes.
Schools minister Nick Gibb this weekend repeated his warning to the unions that an improved offer on pensions may be withdrawn if no deal is reached.
Turnouts in strike ballots have been extraordinarily low, with as few as 25 per cent of workers taking part, and ministers now say the case for tightening the law to make it harder to conduct a legal strike is ‘pressing’.
Labour leader Ed Miliband, who defeated his brother David in the party’s leadership contest thanks only to the votes of the unions, is under mounting pressure to denounce the strikes.
Senior shadow cabinet ministers are growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of clarity from Mr Miliband, who has failed to say whether he supports or condemns the action by two million public sector workers.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066723/Public-sector-strikes-Airports-use-troops-border-controls.html#ixzz1evDn5ipl

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