A NATIONAL union chief has addressed passport workers amid concerns that jobs could be lost as a result of an impending office move.

It is believed the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) lease on Milburngate House, in Durham city centre, expires in March 2014 and, with Durham County Council keen to demolish the 1960s-built office block, staff fear the work could be moved out of the region and jobs axed.

The IPS has about 700 workers in Durham, making it one of the city’s biggest employers.

Yesterday, Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), travelled to Durham to discuss the situation.

After spending 75 minutes with about 100 PCS members, he said: “The management needs to know the people in Durham will stand up and defend their jobs.

“Given the pressure to cut jobs, there’s a very understandable fear the move out of the office could come with job cuts.

“If that’s a misplaced fear, they could reassure everyone.

“They could say any accommodation move would be done on the same headcount we’ve got.

“People suspect they won’t lose any opportunity to make cuts and sometimes the move to new accommodation is the opportunity they need.”

Milburngate House is widely considered to be a 1960s eyesore. A development brief for the site, including plans for housing, shops and leisure facilities, was agreed in May.

National Savings and Investments, which shares Milburngate House with the IPS, is to move its 400 staff to proposed new offices across the River Wear on the site of the old Durham Wasps ice rink. However, IPS workers have been left in the dark.

The PCS says it wants to protect highquality jobs for the North-East and though no proposals have been brought to the table, it is a “scary time”.

Mr Serwotka also spoke to PCS members about the Government’s austerity measures, proposals for regionalising pay levels and job losses across the Civil Service.

A Home Office spokesman said: “IPS are making plans to leave Milburngate House in Durham prior to the end of the lease in 2014 and move to another location in the Durham area.”