Workers have taken to the picket lines across Watford this morning as part of national strikes against changes to public sector pensions.

Protesters took to the streets outside Watford General Hospital, the town’s job centre on Exchange Road and the borough council.

James Meller, an appeals officer at Watford’s job centre who joined the picket on Exchange Road, said the strikers had received mixed reactions from members of the public passing by.

He said: “We have had a mixed response from passersby, we have had a couple of people being supportive and one or two who were less so.”

Mr Meller added he and his colleagues were in “uproar” over the changes to their pensions and were equally displeased when the government announced yesterday the one percent cap on public sector pay rises would carry on for a further two years.

Scores of schools around Watford and Three Rivers have also had to close their doors to pupils as teachers joined the strike.

This morning the list of schools affected included:

  • Abbots Langley Primary, Abbots Langley
  • Alban Wood Primary and Nursery, Watford
  • Arnett Hills JMI Primary, Rickmansworth
  • Ashfield Junior Primary, Bushey
  • Beechfield Primary, Watford (partial)
  • Bovingdon Primary (partial)
  • Breakspeare, Abbots Langley
  • Bromet, Watford (partial)
  • Bushey Manor Junior, Bushey
  • Bushey Meads, Bushey
  • Bushey and Oxhey Infants
  • Cassiobury Infant and Nursery, Watford
  • Cassiobury Junior, Watford
  • Central Primary, Watford (partial)
  • Chater Infant, Watford
  • Cherry Tree Primary, Watford
  • Chorleywood Primary
  • Coates Way, Garston
  • Colnbrook, South Oxhey
  • Fair Field Junior, Radlett
  • Falconer Special, Bushey
  • Field Junior Primary, Watford
  • Francis Combe Academy, Garston
  • Garston Manor, Garston
  • Greenfields Primary, South Oxhey
  • Harvey Road, Croxley Green
  • Hertsmere Jewish Primary, Radlett
  • Highwood Primary, Bushey
  • Holy Rood Primary, Watford
  • Kings Langley Secondary (partial)
  • Laurance Haines, Watford
  • Leavesden Green Primary
  • Little Green Junior, Croxley Green
  • Little Reddings, Bushey (partial)
  • Malvern Way, Croxley Green
  • Maple Cross JMI, Maple Cross
  • Meadow Wood, Bushey
  • Merry Hill Infant and Nursery, Bushey
  • Nascot Wood Infant and Nursery, Watford
  • Nascot Wood Junior, Watford
  • Newberries Primary, Radlett
  • Orchard Primary, Watford (partial)
  • Oxhey Wood Primary, South Oxhey (partial)
  • Parmiter’s, Garston (partial)
  • Rickmansworth Park JMI, Rickmansworth (partial)
  • Rickmansworth Secondary (partial)
  • The Russell, Chorleywood
  • Sacred Heart Primary, Bushey
  • Sarratt C of E
  • Shepherd Primary, Rickmansworth
  • St Anthony's, Watford (partial)
  • St Catherine of Siena JMI, Watford
  • St Clement Danes, Chorleywood
  • St John's Catholic Primary, Mill End
  • St John's C of E Infant and Nursery, Radlett
  • St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, South Oxhey
  • St Meryl Carpenders Park
  • St Michael’s Catholic High, Garston
  • St Paul's, Chipperfield
  • Tanners Wood JMI, Abbots Langley,
  • Watford Field Infant and Nursery, Watford
  • Watford Grammar School for Girls (partial),
  • Woodhall, South Oxhey
  • Yorke Mead Primary, Croxley Green