Today is national strike day for many teachers in England.

Teachers all over London canceled school to march to save their pensions.

As if teachers don’t get paid enough to teach our upcoming youth, they want to make cuts in the education system to “save money”.

Why cut something as important as teachers? Do the people wanting to make these cuts not have kids? Better yet…do they not remember the teachers they had growing up?

Either way, my thought is do strikes really make a difference? Or is it just a waste of time an energy?

In some nations like Korea, South Africa, France and Spain general strikes are still being used for mass mobilization and political protest.

In the past decade, millions of Europeans have participated in nationwide work stoppages over public sector budget cuts, labor law revisions, or pension plan changes sought by conservative governments.

In Brazil, voters have even chosen a one-time strike leader, Luis Inacio (“Lula”) da Silva, to serve as president of their country.

In America, although the massive turnout of immigrant workers at escalating weekday marches and rallies in March, April and May of 2006 constituted political strikes on a scale usually witnessed only abroad.

Every year, more than 20,000 union contracts are negotiated.

Yet since 1992, walkouts by 1,000 workers or more have averaged less than 40 annually.

In 2004, there were just 17, with only 316,000 union members participating. 100,000 of them in a single four-day telephone strike.

In contrast, at the peak of labor’s post-World War II strike wave in 1952, there were 470 major strikes, affecting nearly three million workers nationwide

So I suppose, even if there is not a change, at least the voice of the people can no be ignored during a strike.

Your voice is heard. No matter what.

Mainly due to the fact there are a group of people rallying for what they believe is right…or wrong.

Striking gives us, normally working class people the chance to speak out and let our voice be heard to those in a higher power.

The authorities can ignore people individually, but as a whole, we get our voices heard.