STRIKING public sector workers took to the picket lines on Wednesday morning outside MoD Corsham to show their anger at the government’s pension reforms.

Around 20 representatives from two unions, Prospect and PCS, were protesting outside the base, in Westwells Road, about the reform plans which they feel will force them to pay more for their pensions and work for longer before they can retire.

Union members, who started their picketing at 7am, lobbied workers on their way into the base.

John Streeter, 57, Civil Service President of Prospect, said: “I was involved in the strikes in 1979 and this has a much different feel, back then, it was about pay but now this is about something much bigger, the robbery of pensions for many generations of people.”

He added: “The protests today are absolutely vital as this dispute is something which will affect around 4 million people and the government will have to take note.”

Civil Servant Nicola Williams, 41, who works at MoD Corsham took to the picket lines because she felt the pension reforms would significantly hamper her family’s financial security.

She said: “I think today is starting to gather real momentum in what we want to highlight locally and across the country. As a mother of two young children I am very concerned for the future. Myself and my husband are both out on strike as we feel these reforms will have a huge affect on our family.

“We’ve already had to start recalculating our finances, we’ve cancelled our window cleaner, thinking of getting rid of our milkman and changed supermarket as we are nervous about what the future holds. Today, for example we are both losing a day’s wage, so close to Christmas which isn’t ideal but it is a fight we had to support.”