STRIKING workers fear Government cuts could lead to the closure of either Northwich or Winsford JobCentre.
And the public servants who work to help others find jobs are worried they could soon need the same assistance themselves.
They fear that under the Govern-ment's plans, they could lose their jobs and there would be no nearby JobCentre to look for work.
Concerns were raised on the picket lines as workers at Winsford and Northwich JobCentres and social services staff at Hartford House joined a national strike on Friday to protest at Government plans to axe more than 100,000 jobs across the country.
The one-day strike, the largest in a generation, was called by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) to fight Chancellor Gordon Brown's sweeping cuts to the number of civil servants working in Britain.
PCS branch representative Tony Donal said members faced not only losing their jobs, but changes to their terms and conditions, sick absence arrangements and the prospect of working longer before they can receive a pension.
He said: 'No-one wants to lose a JobCentre. No-one knows which office will close, but under the planned cuts it is very unlikely that the Government will allow Vale Royal to have two JobCentres, so that means either Winsford or Northwich will close.
'If it happens people will be losing a valuable service. People in Winsford are going to struggle to get to North-wich and vice versa, and it means people living on benefit will have to find unnecessary travel expenses.
'The Government wants to shut 550 of 650 social services offices. A lot of the service will be replaced by auto-mated call centres, but people want to speak to a person and they will not be getting the same service.
'The Government can't arbitrarily cut staff without it having a negative impact on local services, as well as the local economy.'
Chancellor Gordon Brown issued a defiant statement about the day-long strike, saying: 'Our decisions mean more police, more teachers, more doctors and more nurses. We will provide help with information, relocation and retraining to help staff move into front-line work within the public sector, but we will not be diverted from these necessary changes so that we can make this essential investment.'
