Fears of Huddersfield office closure

WORKERS are staging a 24-hour strike amid fears Huddersfield will lose its tax office.

Pickets will be outside Crown House, Southgate, during next Tuesday's protest.

Staff across the country are joining the walkout in opposition to national plans to shed 12,500 civil service jobs by April next year.

In Huddersfield, the 100 staff could be cut to just a handful and offer only a face-to-face contact point.

The Public and Commercial Services Union said Revenue and Customs was looking to lose buildings to save running costs.

Offices at Halifax, Keighley, Skipton and Shipley are also earmarked for closure, it is feared.

Trudy Bates, chairwoman of a union campaign committee, said staff morale was at an all-time low.

She said: "A review document that contains the sentence `plans for relocation of staff will be drawn up following consultation', has only added to staff feeling that a decision on their future has already been made."

Some workers expect to be shifted to Bradford under the plans.

But Miss Bates said: "Offices earmarked for closure, in some cases, have a workforce that is 80% female.

"Many of them have caring responsibilities and will find the extra travelling impossible."

Since the cuts were announced, the unions have organised a series of one-day strikes in a bid to publicise the plight of their members.

Driving tests and job centres could also be hit.

The timing of the latest strike, just two days ahead of the local elections, is aimed at raising political pressure.