CNN news 2011-12-04
AZUZ: But some analysts are saying this plan isn`t actually good news, that it won`t solve Europe`s debt crisis. They believe it just shows how worried these central banks are about the crisis getting worse and possibly spreading to other parts of the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? Government employees work in the public sector.
This one`s true. The public sector is a part of an economy that provides basic government services.
AZUZ: Those services can be different from country to country, but some examples of public sector jobs might include police officers, some transportation workers or public school teachers. Those were some of the folks who walked off the job yesterday in the United Kingdom.
AZUZ (voice-over): Strikes swept across the country. The employees stopped working to protest government plans to reduce their pensions. Those are the benefits that workers get after they retire. The British government said the strikes didn`t have much impact on public services, though more than half of the country`s schools were closed because of the strikes.
Dan Rivers looks at the buildup to this dispute between the government and workers.
DAN RIVERS, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): In Britain the age of austerity is getting increasingly bitter and acrimonious. First, the students fought battles over the rising cost of education. Now the protests are spreading, this time over pension reform.
From closed schools, where teachers won`t turn up, to chaos at airports, border agency staff are also walking out. Even some non-urgent operations at hospitals are being canceled as staff strike, all in protest at government plans to cut state worker retirement plans. Unions are likening it to a general strike, such is its scope and potential effect.
The phrase general strike evokes echoes of the 1926 action that crippled Britain. 2011 won`t be as bad, but it will still cause major disruption.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Everyone should be clear that there is going to be disruption. And the reason for that disruption, the responsibility for that disruption, lies squarely with the trade union leaders, who`ve decided on a strike even while negotiations are ongoing. I think that is irresponsible, I think it is wrong. People should know who to blame.
RIVERS (voice-over): The unions blame the bailout of the banks for the current wave of cutbacks. Just a short distance from the glittering financial quarters of Canary Wharf is one school that will close for the day.
Pupils at George Green`s may be smiling at the thought of an extra day off lessons, but it will cause headaches for parents.
KENNY FREDERICK, HEADTEACHER: (Inaudible).
RIVERS (voice-over): Headteacher Kenny Frederick is going on strike for the first time in her 37-year career.
FREDERICK: Never been on strike, and I was a teacher through the `80s when every second day seemed to be a strike, but I don`t really believe in striking. But I just don`t feel there`s anything else that we can do.
AZUZ: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing something that hasn`t happened in 50 years, a U.S. Secretary of State is visiting the country of Myanmar.
AZUZ (voice-over): This is a country that the U.S. government says it knows the least about. The Southeast Asian country is reclusive. Myanmar, which is sometimes called Burma, tends to keep itself apart from the rest of the world. But Secretary Clinton is hoping to learn more about it during her two-day visit there.
She was met by officials when she landed in the country`s capital yesterday. A military government ruled Myanmar for nearly 40 years, and reportedly used harsh policies against its people. The country has a new government now, and it`s been making some reforms. Secretary Clinton said she wants to see how serious Myanmar is about those changes.