SOME London services have come to a standstill as council workers walk out on the job in the biggest strike action in 80 years.

Closures have this morning already hit the Thames Barrier.

The largest union involved in the strike, Unison, said half of London's schools would be closed today and many council services, including refuse collection, street cleaning and the courts, would face serious disruption.

Unions are taking action against government plans to scrap a rule allowing some workers to retire on a full pension at 60 if their age and length of service adds up to 85 years.

Unions said more than one million council workers from 11 unions across the UK will walk out on the job.

A London Government Association survey of councils in England said that support for the strike had been strongest in London.

Police control rooms, social services and council offices will be widely hit.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said it was the biggest strike since the 1926 General Strike.

"Our members have taken the decision to strike very seriously indeed," he said.

"They are not selfish people, they are not using any excuse to call a strike and have a day off, they are asking simply for what they have paid for and what they deserve.

"These are real people like you and I who have paid six per cent year in, year out to their pension scheme, and are now being treated like second class citizens when it comes to paying out on their pensions.

"Strike action is the only option left to local government workers to demonstrate the burning resentment and anger they feel over the government and employers taking away their pension rights, when those same rights have been given to every other public-sector pension scheme. Why should they put up with this discrimination?

"That's the question we have been asking the government and employers for over a year."

Chancellor Gordon Brown and former US President Bill Clinton will face pickets when they arrive at London's Guildhall to speak at a conference.