Forest staff to protest over job cuts

FORESTRY Commission staff in Edinburgh were set to demonstrate today over plans to slash up to 150 jobs at the government agency's city HQ.

The proposed cuts at the Corstorphine HQ, where the demonstration was to be held, come as 26 per cent of the commission's budget is cut between now and 2015.

Between 100 and 150 jobs will go, along with another 300 in England, staff were told yesterday.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said the cuts will "decimate the Forestry Commission, where many staff had spent their entire careers".

He added: "For many there is no prospect of picking up other work, because the economy is in such a poor state."

A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said it expected a mixture of voluntary redundancies and retirements, but did not rule out compulsory redundancies.