STRIKING civil servants say they have been heartened by a show of public support for their protest against planned job cuts.

Tanya Walker, who was one of about 1,750 civil servants striking in York yesterday, said public feedback both locally and nationally had been very encouraging.

Tanya, who represents Public Commercial Services Union (PCS) members working at York Pension Centre, said she had been on the picket line outside Stonebow jobcentreplus from 6.30am, and had taken to the streets in the afternoon to tell the public of the plight.

"We gave out lots of leaflets to tell people what's going on and the reasons why we decided to take strike action and it was very well received," she said.

"That's all we could have hoped for, and now we need to focus on the momentum and where we go from here."

The workers were protesting against the Government's plans to slash more than 100,000 civil and public service jobs.

York and District PCS branch chairman Ian Calvert spent yesterday on the picket line outside Imphal Barracks.

He said: "We're here to protect jobs.

"Morale is pretty low and lots of people are disenchanted. If you asked them if they've had enough, a lot would say they had."

A spokesman from the Department for Work and Pensions said: "We have been able to maintain important services at all jobcentreplus offices across North Yorkshire.

"In particular staff ensured that inquiries were dealt with, while our most vulnerable customers received the help they needed, with emergency payments being made where appropriate."

Updated: 09:56 Saturday, November 06, 2004