Workers are protesting against civil service job cuts

Gerry McMahon from the Public and Commercial Services Union said a strike was planned for March and would hit benefits offices and JobCentres.

He was speaking at a jobs fair in Glasgow where Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) union members protested at plans to cut more than 30,000 jobs.

The DWP said the changes would improve services to customers.

It said this would work by shifting resources to the frontline.

The PCS staged a two-day strike over the cuts in January which closed offices across Scotland. Scotland would lose 1,000 posts.

Our members find it an amazing set of double standards for JobCentre Plus to be participating in a jobs fair aimed at getting people into the jobs market Stewart Dalley PCS union

Jobcentre Plus was accused of double standards for taking part in the jobs fair at Kelvin Hall on Saturday when thousands of its own jobs are under threat.

The union said job fairs could disappear if staff numbers were cut.

Scottish regional secretary Stewart Dalley said: "At a time when the government is hell-bent on reducing staffing levels within DWP by 30,000, our members find it an amazing set of double standards for Jobcentre Plus to be participating in a jobs fair aimed at getting people into the jobs market."

He said if the government's efficiency measures were carried through, the DWP would, in effect, be putting its own staff on the benefits they are currently delivering.

Mr McMahon emphasised that the union was not opposed to the jobs fair but said the demonstration was intended to draw attention to the fact that if staffing levels were reduced events of that kind would become a thing of the past.