Strike affects Scottish courts
1 Feb 07
Civil servants' protest against jobs cuts reduces operations
A number of Scottish courts were forced to cut back their business yesterday because of a strike by civil servants.
Civil service unions are protesting against Chancellor Gordon Brown's plans to cut 100,000 public sector jobs in the UK, along with compulsory redundancies and below-inflation pay rises. About 450 of Scotland's 1,200 court administration staff took part. The strike also affected passport and benefit offices, and driving test centres.
All of Scotland's courts remained open, although some were only operating a reduced or telephone service. Glasgow Sheriff Court adjourned its sheriff and jury cases, but summary and civil cases went ahead as normal. In Edinburgh, six of the 15 sheriff courts were closed and summary trials were held in one court instead of three.
The Scottish Court Service said the strike had not jeopardised any cases.