Tens of thousands of civil servants will stage a two-day strike next week after voting for industrial action over pay, it was announced today.
Workers, including staff at jobcentres and benefit offices across the UK, will walk out on January 29 and 30.
The strike will be the biggest in the civil service for a decade and will be followed by other forms of industrial action aimed at disrupting work in five Government departments.
The Public and Commercial Services Union said it had come up against an increasingly belligerent management which seemed ''hell bent'' on driving down pay.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: ''This is not a decision our members have taken lightly.''
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