A council staff strike is looming over the relocation of Hammersmith and Fulham's call centre to Rochdale.

Unison, which represents the call centre workers, says the borough has reneged on a promise to find them alternative jobs.

Members of the union voted unanimously to ballot for strike action in support of the workers, who will be made compulsorily redundant on March 15.

Customer service adviser Dawn Francis, who has worked for the council for 16 years, said: "We have been treated in same way a doormat is used to wipe your feet. It is disgusting."

Although the five members of staff have said they would even take temporary jobs, Unison claims the council has made little effort to accommodate them.

The union also claims these posts are currently filled by agency staff, which it says would be at 'excessive cost', because the council is paying agency fees as well as wages.

Staff say they have been told to use up all leave by March 15, otherwise they will not be paid for it.

One union member says she had a letter, hand-delivered to her door by a stranger, demanding she take her leave by March 15.

Her representatives have condemned this approach as 'bullying'.

Noreen Morris, Unison branch secretary, said: "Members are disgusted by the way these staff are being bullied by the council.

"Privatising services and putting local people out of work, staff who have years of experience and knowledge, is not good value for money.

"The council spent more than a million pounds creating the contact centre a few years ago and now management have transferred the service to a private company.

"This is despite the fact that Unison submitted an alternative proposal, which would have reduced the cost of running the contact centre and kept this service local to the community they serve."

Customer service adviser Janet Crosbie, of Australia Road, Shepherd's Bush, said the council had not kept its promise to match call centre staff to suitable jobs.

"Only about two jobs seemed to come up for five of us, so obviously there was not much job matching done."

The decision to ballot on strike action was taken at Unison's annual meeting on February 26.

Morris added: "Contact centre staff told the packed meeting about how they have been treated by their council employers and warned other staff that no-one should be complacent - 'it could be you and your service next'.

"It was agreed that Unison could not stand by and allow its members to be bullied by the employers."

A council spokesman said: "At a time of great economic uncertainty residents are rightly demanding more efficient, value for money, services.

"By moving to a larger contact centre in Rochdale, we have gained some significant economic and technical advantages.

"This is improving the quality of our service to residents through our ability to deal more efficiently with peaks in demand, as well as saving taxpayers £150,000 a year in operating costs."