• Nurses, cleaners, librarians: UK austerity marchers challenge government cuts

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    A man holds up a banner reading 'Austerity - That's Enough' as a march to protest the government's austerity measures prepares to set off from the Embankment in London on Friday.

    By NBC News staff and wires reports

    Updated at 8:25 a.m ET: LONDON - Thousands of anti-austerity protesters marched in London on Saturday to protest against public spending cuts enacted by a government fighting off accusations that it is run by an upper-class elite that ignores the plight of recession-hit voters. 

    The march comes at a time when Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition is reeling from the resignation on Friday of a senior minister accused of calling police "plebs," a class-laden insult for working people. 

    Conservatives faced a barrage of negative headlines on Saturday over the departure of Andrew Mitchell, the "Chief Whip" or party enforcer, four weeks after he swore at police guarding the gates to Cameron's Downing Street office. 

    Class wars: 'Gate-gate' scandal swamps UK PM David Cameron


    A second row involving George Osborne, the finance minister -- who sat in a first class train carriage with a standard class ticket before paying for an upgrade -- played into the hands of critics who say the Conservatives are privileged and out-of-touch. 

    "Who Do They Think They Are?" asked the Daily Mail newspaper in a front page headline, while the Financial Times said the bad news over Mitchell and Osborne capped a "dismal week for the Tories", the center-right party that is trailing in the polls. 

    Nurses, cleaners, librarians and ambulance drivers are among tens of thousands marching past the Houses of Parliament to a rally in Hyde Park in one of the biggest anti-austerity protests this year. Marches will also take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland. 

    General strike?
    Under grey autumnal skies, police closed roads around parliament in Westminster before the start of the march at 1100 GMT (6 a.m. ET). 

    Trade union leaders are seeking to pile more pressure on Cameron at the event where they will tell protesters that the government's economic plan has failed, prolonging Britain's second recession since the financial crisis. 

    Greek strike turns violent: 'Enough is enough'

    The head of the head of the RMT transport workers union was set to say that Saturday's march was a step towards a nationwide strike, Sky News reported.

    "The marches are a building block towards the objective of coordinated action and a general strike.  That is why RMT says, march today, strike tomorrow," Bob Crow was planning to say, Sky News reported without citing a source.

    Reuters reported that Brendan Barber, head of the Trades Union Congress, an umbrella group which represents 54 unions, planned to say the following:

    "Austerity isn't working. It is hammering the poorest and the most vulnerable ... Ministers told us that if we only accept the pain, recovery would come. Instead we have been mired in a double-dip recession." 

    Coalition under pressure
    The coalition government has responded to calls from unions and the opposition Labour Party to do more to boost growth by relaxing planning laws and boosting lending to businesses. 

    A downsized parade as Spain's celebrates national day amidst austerity cuts

    But its latest attempt to ease the pressure on squeezed households backfired this week when Cameron said the government would legislate to force energy companies to give customers their lowest tariff. The surprise announcement appeared to take his own ministers by surprise and sowed confusion over what he meant and whether it would actually happen. 

    However, Sajid Javid, a Conservative Treasury minister, said the government was right to focus on cutting borrowing and that data last week indicating a fall in unemployment and inflation showed that its economic policies were on track. 

    "There is a still a lot to do," he told Sky News. "I don't pretend for a second that we are out of the woods, but this government is facing up to the problem, it is not sticking its head in the sand like (Labour opposition leader) Ed Miliband." 

    Asked about the perception that the Conservatives are out of touch, he said: "I think that what matters is what is actually happening out there in the real world." 

    Spain, Portugal hit with anti-austerity protests

    Opponents of the unions say the government should stick to its plan to eliminate a budget deficit that stood at 8 percent of gross domestic product last year, the biggest of any major European country. 

    "The government must not listen to militant union leaders," said Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which describes itself as an independent free-market thinktank. "The cuts we have seen are tiny and further concessions to these protesters would be wholly unaffordable." 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Going for gold: British workers cash in on Olympics with strike threats

    Jim Seida / NBC News

    A commuter waits for a bus at London Bridge Station on Tuesday. In June, two-thirds of London's 8,000 red buses were off the road because of a one-day strike by thousands of drivers.

    By Ian Johnston, NBC News

    LONDON -- For some, the Olympic Games represent the epitome of sporting achievement and fair play, and a noble set of ideals that help inspire humanity to dream of a better world.

    But if you are a driver of one of London’s famous red buses, it should mean about $900 extra in your paycheck. And if you are a British worker who isn’t getting a coveted Olympics bonus, it means you might just go on strike just to make the point that you’re not happy.

    Then there are those for whom the Games is an ideal time to raise a grievance over pay, pensions or working conditions, in the hope that the threat of industrial unrest -- as the world focuses its attention on the U.K. -- will speed the negotiations along.

    Labor unions in Britain may have been relatively quiet over the government’s austerity policies, but the arrival of the Olympics has given them the chance to flex their muscles in a way that some see as far from sporting.

    On Thursday -- the day before the London 2012 opening ceremony -- thousands of government workers, including Border Agency guards at airports, are due to go on strike for 24 hours in a dispute over pay and other issues. Marianna Panizza, a senior press officer at Heathrow Airport, said in an email that so far "immigration waiting times [were] well within their targets," adding that "We hope this will continue through the strike action." (Update: The PCS union called off the planned strike by U.K. border force staff on Wednesday.)

    More London 2012 coverage from NBCNews.com


    Then on Friday, RMT union members at South West Trains, which runs services into London, will stop working overtime or coming in on rest days until Aug. 12 because they have not been offered an Olympic bonus.

    Visitors arriving in London for the start of the Games should be extra careful with their possessions, as unionized staff in the lost property office at Transport for London – the company that runs the city's Tube subway network – have been told not to work shifts from 7 a.m. Friday until 7 a.m. Saturday. That also goes for staff at Transport for London’s travel information centers and the London Transport Museum.

    'A question of fairness'
    A dispute over Olympic payments could also disrupt London’s so-called “Boris Bikes” – bicycles available to hire cheaply on the street – from early Friday to Sunday morning.

    London Olympics: 8,000-mile torch relay around the U.K.

    Jim Seida / NBC News

    "The traffic affects us more than anybody else," says bus driver Stephen Hall, pictured on his break at London Bridge Station on Tuesday. "The tube drivers aren't actually doing any more work than before, but we are."

    Geoff Martin, a spokesman for the RMT union, defended workers seeking a slice of the Olympic “windfall.”

    “It’s a question of fairness,” he told NBCNews.com. “The vast majority of our members have got them [Olympic bonuses] … if it is right for those members to get a share of the additional profits companies will generate – which they will – why shouldn’t staff working in other companies benefit as well?”

    Martin said 80,000 extra passengers a day were expected to use South West Trains services, meaning more work for staff.

    “The point is, this is a unique set of circumstances. It’s the biggest transport challenge London has ever faced,” he added.

    Martin said most transport companies had been “very reasonable” and agreed to let workers get their “fair share of the windfall.”

    Ramadan set to cause 'traffic chaos' near London's Olympic site?

    Quite how many more people, if any, will visit the London Transport Museum -- home to such attractions as the 1866 Metropolitan Railway A class 4-4-0T steam locomotive (number 23) – because of the Olympics remains to be seen.

    Last month, two-thirds of London’s 8,000 red buses were off the road because of a one-day strike by thousands of drivers.

    The show of strength appears to have worked as last week saw the drivers get their deal. Staff will get an extra payment of about $42 a shift, which will mean an extra $895 or so over the period of the Games for the average worker.

    Olivia Harris / Reuters, file

    London bus drivers stand on a picket line near the West Ham Bus Garage in east London on June 22.

    'Ambassadors for London'
    A spokesman for the Unite union, which represents drivers and other workers, told NBC News that they were entitled to the extra money because of the “massive increase in passengers, the increase in traffic.”

    “They’ll end up working longer and finishing their shifts later,” the spokesman said.  “They have to manage the entire bus; they have to often help passengers; they have more demands on them from passengers; they have to help a lot of people who don’t speak English.

    “Our members are going to be ambassadors for London. They are going to be keeping London moving during the Olympics,” he added. “In such exceptional circumstances, they should have their extra contribution recognized financially … they shouldn’t have to be doing extra work for free.”

    33 Team USA athletes to watch in London

    Some 450 members of the Aslef union who work at East Midlands Trains also plan to strike on Aug. 6, 7, and 8, in a dispute over pensions.

    Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, told London’s Evening Standard newspaper that transport unions had the government and Olympic organizers “over a barrel.”

    “With an extra three million rail and [subway] journeys expected during the Games, there will be queuing at stations and dreadful congestion on trains. If the bus drivers were on strike, it is hard to imagine how bad it might get,” he said.

    This family's Olympic odyssey involves bikes, satellite dish -- and reindeer pelts

    But Travers also warned the unions might pay a price after London 2012 if the government decided to take revenge with “tough anti-strike laws.”

    As the opening ceremony of the Olympics approaches, London is covering its bases with an influx of security forces on the ground, in the air and in the water. But officials still worry about the possibility of a 'soft target,' such as an attack on a bus, that would have a huge emotional impact on the city. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    'Ronald Reagan approach'
    Thursday's planned strike by Border Agency and other government staff has caused considerable anger.

    U.K. government Cabinet member Jeremy Hunt told the BBC Sunday that some members of the government had considered what he described as the “Ronald Reagan approach” of firing the striking public workers.

    "I can tell you amongst [government] ministers there have been people asking whether we should be doing that, but I don't want to escalate things by talking about that right now, because I know amongst those 600 people there are lots of people who want to do the right thing and turn up for work," he told Radio 5 Live.

    Troops everywhere, long lines and moans: A very British Olympic Games

    Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, was equally appalled, saying ordinary people would be “disgusted” at the union’s attempt to “disrupt the Olympics when the world’s eyes will be focused on Britain.”

    A newly-redesigned version of London's iconic red bus may have sleek curves, but at $36,000 per seat are they worth the price?

    “We must not allow a selfish minority to disrupt the Olympics in a vain attempt to stop necessary restraint in public spending, and make the Games even more expensive for hard-pressed taxpayers,” he added.

    But not all unions are taking advantage of the authorities’ precarious position on Travers’ barrel.

    A spokesman for the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association said the union had decided to cancel a strike ballot at Virgin Trains over the sacking of a union official.

    He said this was partly due to an agreement to negotiate but also because of a plea by Transport Secretary Justine Greening for the Olympics not to be disrupted by industrial action "in the greater interest of the country."

    Slideshow: Olympic torch carries the flame to London 2012

    Lit by the sun's rays in Greece, the Olympic torch takes a 70-day, 8,000 mile trip to London for the 2012 summer Games.

    Launch slideshow

    More London 2012 coverage:

  • Spanish workers strike against labor reforms

    Josep Lago / AFP - Getty Images

    A wounded protester gets assistance following clashes with riot policemen during a demonstration in Barcelona on March 29, 2012 on a national strike day.

    By msnbc.com news services

    Flag-waving Spanish workers livid over labor reforms they see as flagrantly pro-business blocked traffic Thursday, forming boisterous picket lines outside wholesale markets and bus garages, as part of a nationwide strike.

    Unions claimed massive participation in the 24-hour stoppage protesting what they claim to be the latest dose of bitter medicine Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has prescribed to appease European Union overseers and jittery investors watching Spain's debt grow and its GDP shrink.

    Police arrested a number of protesters in Madrid, while small-scale violence flared in Barcelona, Spain's second city. Tourists were locked out of the Alhambra, a 14th-century Moorish palace in the southern city of Granada which is one of Europe's great cultural monuments.

    The unions demanded a "gesture" from the government to scale back the reforms, warning they could cause more unrest from May 1.

    The government quickly said no, and downplayed the impact of the strike, which failed to bring the country to a standstill. "There is no stopping on the path to reform," Labor Minister Fatima Banez said.

    In fact, the government will on Friday serve up even more austerity pain with a 2012 budget to feature tens of billions of euros (dollars) in deficit-reduction measures.

    PhotoBlog: Workers strike in Spain filling streets and closing businesses

    The cuts are designed to help Spain lower its deficit to within EU limits and calm the international investors who determine the country's borrowing costs in debt markets — and therefore have a lot of say in whether Spain will follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout.

    There were no reports of significant violence in Thursday's demonstration. A total of 58 people were detained and nine were injured in scuffles as the strike got under way a minute after midnight, Interior Ministry official Cristina Diaz said.

    Unions are challenging a conservative government not yet 100 days old, protesting changes to labor market rules long regarded as among Europe's most rigid. Among other things the changes make it cheaper and easier for companies to lay people off and let them cut their wages unilaterally.

    On the Gran Via, one of the Spanish capital's main commercial strips, a group of about 500 whistle-blowing picketers marched slowly, blocking traffic for about an hour. Police and helmeted riot police watched from the sidelines.

    As the group made its way down the boulevard, many merchants — such as jewelers and clothing retailers — pulled down their metal shutters or locked their front doors.

    PhotoBlog: Spanish protests turn violent, destructive

    One protester, Angel Andrino, 31, said he was laid off a day after the labor reforms were approved in a decree last month. The government argues that while the reforms might hurt now, they will create jobs in the future. Spain is by official estimates already back in recession.

    Andrino lives with his parents and brother, the latter the only one to be employed, with a part-time job.

    "We are going through a really hard time, suffering," he said. "The rights that our parents and grandparents fought for are being wiped away without the public being consulted."

    General Workers Union Secretary General Candido Mendez put average participation at midday at 77 percent but said that it was 97 percent in industry and construction. "This strike has been an unquestionable success," said Mendez.

    Some statistics, however, suggested the strike had not brought the country to a standstill.

    Electricity consumption — a measure of industrial and commercial activity — was down by 17 percent at mid-morning, according to the Interior Ministry. That is slightly less than during the last general strike in 2010, which was deemed only partially successful.

    Investors are worried about prospects for continued, widespread social unrest of the kind seen in bailed-out Greece. But management professor Jose Ramon Pin of IESE Business School said this will not happen in Spain because people reluctantly accept that the country needs a radical economic makeover.

    "This country is in no mood for taking to the streets," Pin said.

    One of the strike's most noticeable effects was on public transportation, with unions guaranteeing only around 30 percent of normal service at rush hour times.

    "We're offering the government a chance to start a different path (of reform) in search of wider consensus," Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, head of Spain's largest union Comisiones Obreras said. "If not there will be rising social conflict."

     The main airline, Iberia, canceled 65 percent of its flights.

    By mid-morning, 402 flights had been canceled, National airport operator AENA said. Minimum services decreed by law ensured that 1,675 flights would operate — less than half of the average daily amount of more than 4,500 flights.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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