Civil servants stage strike

Industrial action was taking place on Friday

Civil servants across Northern Ireland have been holding a one-day strike in protest at proposed job cuts.

About 2,500 workers at the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise Offices joined a UK-wide protest at plans to cut 100,000 jobs.

The action was organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union, and is being backed by Nipsa. A rally was also held in Belfast.

However, Northern Ireland Civil Service departments were not involved in Friday's strike.

What is the strike all about?

The strike affected Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise offices in Belfast, Ballymena, Coleraine, Antrim, Londonderry, Enniskillen, Craigavon, Banbridge, Newry and Lisburn.

The UK Passport Agency in Belfast was also affected, as were a number of other UK civil service workplaces in Northern Ireland.

It was the biggest action in the civil service across the UK since 1993.

'Industrial action'

The PSC union said it was concerned about pensions, sick pay and forced relocation as well as the cut in jobs.

Nipsa's General Secretary John Corey said it was backing the action by its PCS colleagues against the government's "outrageous attack" on jobs and conditions.

"Their members are facing immediate office closures and compulsory redundancies and deserve the backing of all trade unions," he said.

"For us in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, the government has still not provided any details of where the threatened job cuts will be made and the effect on services.

"However, I could not rule out further industrial action locally if necessary to defend the interests of Northern Ireland Civil Service staff."

Last month it was announced that a total of 37 social security offices and jobcentres across the UK would close in the first wave of plans to shed civil service jobs.