About 600 tax workers in the city joined a national strike yesterday.

The Public and Commercial Services Union held a national day of action to protest against the Government outsourcing work to private companies.

A picket line was set up yesterday outside Leicester's largest HMRC building, Saxon House, in Causeway Lane.

The strike is in opposition to the appointment of two private companies, Sitel and Teleperformance, to run call-handling trials in HMRC centres, in Cumbria and Scotland.

The union warns they risk paving the way for privatisation.

George Smith, acting president for the PCS branch in Leicestershire, said: "It's being touted as a trial but these private sector staff are on worse conditions and have annual salaries of about £3,100 less than union members."

The new private sector contracts will not affect Leicestershire.

HMRC has plans to close its Charles Street office and move 135 staff into Saxon House, but no redundancies have been announced.