The state tax authority, Skat, revealed yesterday that hundreds of their employees will soon find themselves looking for a new job.

According to Skat, 330 employees, including 13 management positions, will be let go on November 13 in a move that the national tax and customs workers' union, Dansk Told & Skatteforbund, found frustrating.

“It’s incomprehensible for the union that Skat finds it necessary to let people go when there will be a financial framework available for everyone within a few short years,” Dansk Told & Skatteforbund said in its weekly newsletter. “We at the union believe that everyone is needed and that personnel reductions should occur via natural departures.”

Part of a greater redundancy plan
The staff reduction by Skat is part of a larger downsizing plan that involves letting 375 full-time employees go by the end of this year.

Dansk Told & Skatteforbund urged Skat to shut down while it processed the redundancies.

“We know that it affects everyone in the organisation and our members want to be present to support one another – and then be able to properly focus on the customers afterwards,” Dansk Told & Skatteforbund wrote.

Skat revealed in September that upwards of 250 employees had applied for a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Since 2005, the number of Skat employees has fallen from 11,000 to around 7,000.