WORKERS in East Kilbride are joining thousands of Revenue and Customs staff on strike today.

It is the latest phase of months of industrial action by civil servants in a row over jobs, pensions and terms and conditions.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are staging a half-day walkout until lunchtime, which officials said will disrupt the start of the new tax year.

Picket lines will be set up outside offices across the country, including call centres, processing offices and the face-to-face inquiry centres.

The action in East Kilbride is taking place at the tax office at Queensway House, in Stewartfield Way.

The union, which has over 50,000 members in HM Revenue and Customs, said many staff will hold "walk-ins" at 1pm, so they all go back to work together in a show of solidarity.

The strike follows a walkout by PCS members in other government departments, courts, driving test centres and museums on Friday as part of a campaign over cuts, which started with a national strike on Budget day, March 20.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "These strikes are part of an ongoing campaign.

"Civil and public servants are working harder than ever to provide the services we all rely on but instead of rewarding them, the Government is imposing cuts to their pay, raiding their pensions and trying to rip up their basic working conditions."

The PCS has held talks with other unions about co-ordinating industrial action against the Government's austerity measures and spending cuts.