Striking workers will lose benefits The Department for Work and Pensions said nearly 1.4 million days were lost to strike action last year. The announcement comes as Unite, Britain's largest trade union which has called for a "summer of disruption" to hit the Olympics, draws up plans to recruit schoolchildren as members. The Union has lost 262,000 of its 1.4m members since 2007. A motion being presented at a Unite conference later this month "notes with concern" the drop in membership and calls for a programme of recruitment and education, adding: "It is clear that to increase our membership we need to focus on organising and recruiting young people." It calls for the union leadership to "strategically map where and when schools could be potential targets for trade union educational programmes and contributions" and send dedicated union officers to "approach schools in order to gain and maximise access." The union also plans to distribute schools packs to "educate young people at school on what a trade union actually is, the history of trade unionism, and the benefits of membership." Tory MP Gavin Williamson said: "Labour must condemn this indoctrination campaign from their union paymasters."