Scottish tax workers to go on strike over job cuts

Staff are planning strikes like the pickets at HMRC tax office near Cumbernauld Town Centre last year. Picture: TSPL

Thousands of employees in Scotland will take part in the action over a fall in staff numbers and office closures, according to the Public and Commercial Services union.

The walkout forms part of a week of strikes affecting HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices.

The union said it was also considering other forms of industrial action such as a ban on overtime.

It is also holding a ballot over pay-related industrial action which is expected to start in July.

John Davidson, PCS HMRC assistant group secretary said: “Members are extremely angry that staffing numbers in HMRC have fallen from 104,000 in 2005 to a projected 60,000 next year.

“The latest plans to sack another 22,000 on top of this will lead to the kind of backlogs we’ve seen in other parts of the civil service such as the delays in the processing of passports, leading to an unacceptable level of customer service and further hardship for our undervalued, overworked and underpaid members.”

Staff in Scotland go on strike today, with workers elsewhere in the UK striking for one day on various days this week.

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