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29 August 2011
Last updated at 19:03 ET
A 24-hour strike by civilian staff in protest at cost-cutting measures by Nottinghamshire Police has started.
Unison has criticised the force's restructuring plans accusing it of making staff "needlessly redundant".
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley said he was "extremely disappointed" by the action which ends at midnight.
Among those those taking part are PCSOs, custody and detention officers, front counter and 999 control centre staff, the union said.
Members are also being asked to work to rule from 31 August until further notice.
The first stage of the restructuring has already been completed with up to 170 civilian staff jobs lost although more than 150 are said to have been achieved through voluntary redundancy.
'Heavy heart' Unison said the decision to strike was taken "with a heavy heart" and claims the second phase will see "up to a further 746 police staff jobs at risk of redundancy".
Regional organiser Roger Young said: "It's not about the redundancies in themselves, it's about the way they're doing it.
"We feel that they're wasting resources and potentially identifying people to be made redundant who otherwise would not be so and they may have claims against the force."
The force has accused the union of scaremongering and said no decisions on future job cuts had been made.
It said the union had agreed to the restructuring policy in October, and amending the process now would be unfair to some staff.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley said: "We are extremely disappointed it has come to this as we believe industrial action will not benefit police staff, the organisation or ultimately the public of Nottinghamshire."
He said the force would take steps to mitigate the impact of the action, and that it would continue to "respond swiftly" to 999 calls.
Nottinghamshire Police, which has about 1,750 civilian staff employees, intends to cut £46m by 2015.
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Unison has criticised the force's restructuring plans accusing it of making staff "needlessly redundant".
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley said he was "extremely disappointed" by the action which ends at midnight.
Among those those taking part are PCSOs, custody and detention officers, front counter and 999 control centre staff, the union said.
Members are also being asked to work to rule from 31 August until further notice.
The first stage of the restructuring has already been completed with up to 170 civilian staff jobs lost although more than 150 are said to have been achieved through voluntary redundancy.
'Heavy heart' Unison said the decision to strike was taken "with a heavy heart" and claims the second phase will see "up to a further 746 police staff jobs at risk of redundancy".
Regional organiser Roger Young said: "It's not about the redundancies in themselves, it's about the way they're doing it.
"We feel that they're wasting resources and potentially identifying people to be made redundant who otherwise would not be so and they may have claims against the force."
The force has accused the union of scaremongering and said no decisions on future job cuts had been made.
It said the union had agreed to the restructuring policy in October, and amending the process now would be unfair to some staff.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley said: "We are extremely disappointed it has come to this as we believe industrial action will not benefit police staff, the organisation or ultimately the public of Nottinghamshire."
He said the force would take steps to mitigate the impact of the action, and that it would continue to "respond swiftly" to 999 calls.
Nottinghamshire Police, which has about 1,750 civilian staff employees, intends to cut £46m by 2015.
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