DUBLIN
Staff at the British Embassy in Dublin will hold a one-day strike this week in a dispute over job cuts after talks to avoid such action failed.
Embassy staff are angry that three three senior officials are being made redundant from the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) section.
The section advises British firms exporting to Ireland and Irish business investing in Britain.
The cuts are part of a Foreign and Commonwealth Office strategy to shift resources to “high growth markets”, allocating staff to countries where prospects of economic growth are higher.
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Colm Quinlan, of the trade union Unite, said that the three staff were the most senior officials in the section. “The embassy has refused to discuss redeployment,” he said. “These are targeted redundancies.” Staff had voted by 90 per cent in favour of a one-day strike, he added.
In a statement the embassy said that the redundancies - which were in line with the UKTI’s strategy to transfer resources to key emerging markets – would go ahead.