UNION-BUSTING tactics at HM Revenue and Customs were laid bare yesterday in a leaked document revealing a secret plot to smash resistance to privatisation and cuts.

Civil Service union PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka called on HMRC chief executive Lin Horner to “publicly disown” the memo which details plans to “marginalise” his union and urges the “isolation” of its leadership.

Mr Serwotka branded it a “a shocking and deeply disturbing indication of a secret and political approach” at the department, where PCS represents 50,000 staff.

The document, seen by the Morning Star and believed to date back to August, sets out a blow-by-blow assessment of the HMRC “product” to be delivered — in this case the end of trade union resistance.

In it deputy director of employee relations Jonathan Donovan details three “viable options” for dealing with PCS aimed at sidelining its influence to “deliver the best outcome for HMRC’s business.”

He concludes that if a last attempt to end the union’s “intractable” stance on change fails HMRC should “aim to marginalise PCS by maintaining dialogue only to meet statutory requirements.”

This would leave the union out in the cold and enable cuts and reorganisation to continue “without the need for time-consuming discussion.”

Mr Donovan predicts that this would send “a clear signal to union members that their union is not best positioned to serve their needs” and allow HMRC to set up other channels of communication so it can push though its agenda unheeded.

But he cautions that the approach “will require careful handling” to avoid the department “being seen to be intransigent or politically motivated.”

In a letter challenging Ms Horner over the leaked memo, Mr Serwotka said it explained why management had walked away from negotiations.

“Discussion and dialogue are the only way the dispute can be resolved, not the politically inspired, anti-union approach that the ExCom paper proposes,” he added.

A PCS spokesman said HMRC’s “fundamental attack on us as an independent union” was of the kind more usually seen in union-busting firms such as US giant Wal-Mart.

“It’s not sort of thing you see or should see in the public sector,” he said.