The union-led Wick Wants Work campaign, launched seven months ago to stop the planned closure of the office in the north of Scotland next year, won support from members of the public, politicians of all parties and other trade unions, and the Scottish Trades Union Congress. Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, backed the campaign and wore a Wick Wants Work campaign sticker.
As a result, HM Revenue & Customs senior management has announced that the office, which employs 20 staff but covers a geographical area the size of Belgium, will stay open until at least 2014.
The move is being seen as part of a series of reverses for the Conservative-led coalition where targeted union campaigning, backed by support from the community, has led to a U-turn. Earlier this month, the Government backed off plans to either close or partially close eight coastguard stations. Those reprieved include Falmouth, Milford Haven, Holyhead, Belfast, Stornoway, Shetland, Aberdeen and Humber. A small station at London was also saved. Wick offered no redeployment opportunities and the union has pledged to continue to fight to keep the office open permanently.
Hamish Drummond, of the PCS Revenue & Customs group executive committee in Scotland, said: “We are ecstatic that we have made the Government change its mind and stop people being thrown out of work in October. The campaign was prominent in the local media. Almost every shop in Wick had our leaflets on the counter.
The loss of 20 jobs in Wick is the equivalent of 23,000 jobs going in Greater London. The Government decided that politically they couldn’t do it and we have to build on that pressure. Our campaign is positive proof that, if we stand together with the community, we can force politicians into a change of course.” Now the union is turning its attention to a campaign with community support to save 20 job centres – six of which are in Scotland four in London and ten elsewhere – all threatened with closure. They include centres at Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester airports; city centre job centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh and in commuter towns such as Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and Chelmsford in Essex.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is unthinkable and irresponsible when unemployment is so high and the claimant count is rising.”
