UNION leaders last night warned that strikes by public sector workers in the row over pension reform will continue for the rest of the year following a day of protest by tens of thousands of employees including police, prison officers, lecturers and civil servants.

There were unprecedented scenes yesterday at the region’s jails with hundreds of prison officers deserting their posts, leaving managers to carry out many of their duties.

Elsewhere, up to 500 off-duty police officers from the North-East and North Yorkshire joined a 32,000-strong march in central London to express their anger at Government cuts, which it is claimed could reduce police budgets by 20 per cent.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, said of the action: “It has been a huge success and there will be more strikes in June, at the end of the summer, the winter, next spring and on and on and on.”

But Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the strike was “futile” and described union claims of nearly halfa- million public sector workers on strike as “wildly inaccurate”, the true figure being closer to 150,000, he said.

He said the dedicated majority of workers were working normally and contingency plans ensured nearly all key public services continued operating.

Mr Maude said: “It is very disappointing that a handful of unions insist on carrying on with futile strike action, which will benefit no one.

“Pension talks will not be reopened and nothing further will be achieved through strike action.

“Public sector workers are being asked to work a bit longer and pay a bit more, but they will continue to get a guaranteed pension which is index-linked and inflation-proofed.”

The most dramatic impact was had at the region’s jails when prison officers began walking out to attend unannounced protest meetings from 7am.

The action, which lasted until early afternoon when an order came to stand down, was described as unlawful by ministers, who threatened court action.

Prison officers, who are against Government plans to link their normal pension age to the state pension age, were joined by prison maintenance, catering and clerical staff from the Unite union.

At Holme House prison, in Stockton, about 200 officers took part in protest meetings, which meant visits for prisoners were cancelled.

Similar action took place at Frankland, Durham and Low Newton prisons, joining with national colleagues from the Prison Officers’ Association.

A prison officer from Holme House, who agreed to speak to The Northern Echo on condition of anonymity, said staff gave prisoners their breakfasts and then having ensured their needs were met, left the jail to stand outside.

He said: “There was a gaggle of governors and managers in there unlocking cells and making sure prisoners got their medication.

“They were running around like headless chickens.

“This is about potentially having to retire at 68. When I am 67 years old, there is no way I will be able to restrain a 25-year-old prisoner who is 18 stone and very angry.

“It is crazy, unsafe and they should not expect us to do that.”

Tony Stocks, Prison Officers’ Association chairman at Holme House, said: “The Government should stand back and look at what they are proposing. It’s nonsense.

There are no soft option jobs in our prisons.”

Dave Fleming, a Unite union covener, who joined a picket line at Frankland prison, said rain had brought an early end to the protests, but there had been people “pipping their car horns and shouting support through car windows”.

He said; “The pensions issue has brought all of this to a head, but it also about the Government’s anti-public sector stance and what they are doing in terms of outsourcing and privatisation.

“I believe that, within the space of two years, we will be talking about a fully-privatised prison system.”

In London, a rally was organised by the Police Federation of England and Wales, in part due to dismay over the Government-backed Winsor report, which is recommending a radical review of pay and conditions.

Off-duty police officers wore black baseball caps with the words “Cuts are criminal”.

Andy Metcalfe, the secretary of Durham Police Federation, said: “We are just about able to cope with staffing levels at the moment and any further reduction will have a massive impact on frontline services.”

Steve Matthews, the chairman of Cleveland Police Federation, said: “We took more than 100 officers on the march and we feel that it has been a very productive day.

“The Government was hoping that this march was going to be a damp squib, but we have proved them wrong, because it was an excellent turnout.”

About 42 per cent of Job- Centre staff were on strike, but the action failed to close any of this region’s JobCentres – the only closures being reported in Scotland.

The region’s magistrates and crown courts were also open as usual.

Simon Elliott, a regional representative with the PCS union, said strike action had been “strongly supported” at the JobCentre in Middlesbrough, along with tax offices in Middlesbrough and Stockton.

Mr Elliott said: “Many of these offices remained open, but with a skeleton staff and they would not have been running a normal service.”

He said 80 per cent of the union’s 24,000 members in the North-East took part in the strike action.

Mr Elliott said: “Our members are facing up to a choice – give up, or keep fighting over pensions and, at the moment, that is what we intend to do.”

The biggest turnout in the North-East came at a rally next to Grey’s Monument in Newcastle, which saw about 400 union activists protest, despite constant rain.

Members of the Unite union who work in the NHS also braved heavy showers to mount early morning picket lines outside two of the region’s biggest hospitals.

Pickets with placards were at the gates of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough as the early shift went in.

Martin Wright, a regional organiser with Unite, said some healthcare workers chose to strike for the whole day, while others agreed with their managers to attend rallies for a couple of hours before returning to work.

At Darlington College, in Haughton Road, Darlington, about 100 lecturers manned a picket line from 7.30am to 9am, prior to the start of classes, the University and College Union (UCU) said.

UCU Darlington chairman, Tim Paver, said the Government was committing a “robbery” with regard to public sector pensions and denied they were “gold-plated”.