Thousands of civil servants today started voting on strike proposals over government plans to axe more than 100,000 jobs.
The Public and Commercial Services union is balloting 290,000 members across every government department to ask whether they want to take part in a one-day strike scheduled for November 5.
The job cuts - announced by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, in the budget - will include 2,000 posts lost with the closure of 37 jobcentres and social security offices across the country.
Civil servants are also angry at changes to their terms and conditions, sickness absence arrangements and the prospect of working five years longer if pension ages are raised from 60 to 65.
The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: "Members are angry to be faced with such damaging and arbitrary cuts, anger which will only be compounded if plans to raise the pension age get the green light. Cuts on this massive scale will damage services we all rely on from your tax credit to your car tax and from your child benefit to your pension credit.
"When all around are seeking to cut with little thought of the damaging impact it will have and as the axe begins to fall, we as a union are taking a stand. A stand in which we are confident the thousands of our hardworking members will make in voting for a one-day strike highlighting the work that they do touches people's everyday lives."
The ballot will run until Friday October 22.
