Civil servants have won support from public sector colleagues ahead of their first national strike in 11 years tomorrow, it has emerged.
Teachers and other public sector professionals have contacted the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) ahead of the strike, to ask for details of local picket lines they can join.
Strict employment laws rule secondary picketing as illegal without a ballot, though individual members from other unions are relatively free to attend rallies and join picket lines in their own time to show their support.
The day of industrial action follows a resounding ballot in response to the threat of 104,000 job cuts announced this summer by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, as part of his efficiency drive, representing just under one in five of the entire civil service workforce.
This breaks down roughly into 20,000 posts from local and regional government, and 84,000 from the central civil service.
In response, services ranging from driving test centres, passport and benefit offices, and the Crown Prosecution Service will cease to operate for the day.
Most of the 265,000 public sector membership are expected to back the strike - the union has a further 37,000 members working in the private sector for government contracts.
The strike follows a conclusive ballot held last month. Just over a third of eligible members returned their ballot papers, with two to one in favour of taking strike action.
However, the union is confident that the majority of the membership will turn out to strike on the day.
A PCS spokesman said fellow public sector workers from other unions, such as teachers and members of the rail and maritime union, are also keen to lend support to the strike, he added.
"People have been phoning in asking where their local picket line is," he said.
The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said he was confident of an "excellent turnout" on Friday. "Up and down the country thousands of members are organising rallies, pickets, leafleting and stunts for November 5 to highlight the essential work civil servants do and to stand up for the services they deliver."
Rally speakers will outline the number of threats members are facing from government on top of the cuts, including the chancellor's pledge to relocate 20,000 civil jobs outside London and the south-east, proposals to cut workers' sick pay entitlements, and threats to pension provision.
The strike comes hot on the heels of a TUC report published this weekend, which brands the civil service jobs cull a "false economy" that could obstruct real public service reform.
