HUNDREDS of office workers are to stage a 48-hour walk-out in a row over feared privatisation.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) who work at the Land Registry in Durham City will join colleagues across the country on the picket line on Wednesday and Thursday, May 14 and 15.

They are worried about possible compulsory redundancies and office closures if the agency is taken over by a private company.

About 400 people work at the Durham office, 85 per cent of whom are PCS members. The strike announcement comes after a national newspaper reported that the registry's board of senior managers received a presentation on plans for a future joint-venture just days after the official consultation on the agency’s future closed.

The PCS fears the Government has decided to privatise the 150-year-old agency for political reasons and that many of its 3,000 members nationwide will suffer.

It also believes that many of the people who use its services, such as lawyers, are against privatisation.

Local PCS representative Stuart Dunn said: “We don’t take strike action lightly.

“But in the absence of any reassurance from our chief executive, Ed Lester, that there will be no compulsory redundancies and no office closures, we have felt it necessary to ask our members to take two days strike action." 

He added that there were fears that, under a privatisation, the agency’s service would be worse, but cost more to use.

A Land Registry spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have received notification from PCS that they are calling on their members to take two days strike on May 14 and 15.

“We will continue to engage with our trade union in order to see if we can find a way to work together in order to prevent industrial action.

“However, in the event of a strike we will endeavour to ensure that there is minimal disruption to the services we offer to our professional customers and the public, bearing in mind that the majority of our services are conducted online.”