Largest one-day strike over pay by public sector staff
A strike by thousands of teachers, refuse collectors, firefighters and other public sector works is expected to cause widespread disruption today across our region.
Unions have been criticised for going ahead with strike action despite a low turn out at the ballot.
Today, Neil Ware, from the GMB Union, defended the strike action despite figures from the National Office of Statistics saying staff in the public sector still earn between 2.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent more than the private sector in the year 2013.