Staff in the Department for Education and Skills are refusing to rule out the possibility of strike action in the face of swingeing staff cuts.
The government is culling 1460 jobs at the DfES as part of its plans to streamline Whitehall.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which represents 2500 DfES staff, today launched a consultative ballot on its campaign against the cuts.
The union says that the reduction of 1460 staff will have a severe impact on frontline services, leaving too few staff for the DfES to function properly.
The PCS ballot, which will run for the next four weeks, is asking its members in the department to support a campaign which will include the lobbying of MPs, negotiations with management and communications with the media in addition to industrial action if appropriate.
However, the union stressed that this latter would not be taken lightly, referring to it as a "last resort" which would require a further ballot.
Simon Elliot, PCS negotiations officer for the DfES, said: "The real losers in the cuts will not only be staff, who are facing months of uncertainty, but the service users themselves. We are looking to mount a vigorous campaign and we cannot rule out industrial action should members feel it is appropriate.
"Our fear is that there will simply be too few staff left for the department to function. It is naive to think that you can simply cut a third of the workforce believing it won't have an adverse impact on services."
DfES staff have been told that the job cuts signal major reform in the way that the department works. Headteachers have welcomed signals that it will mean a cutback in "micromanagement", with the department providing strategic advice rather than practical administration.
In advice sent out to staff across the various divisions of the department at the end of last month, seen by EducationGuardian.co.uk, the DfES's permanent secretary, David Normington, confirmed that the first reduction of 800 jobs would be completed by April 2006.
He said that the department's role would be more "strategic", adding: "This implies a smaller, more agile department, placing fewer burdens on the system and less burdened itself. The reduction in posts must be based on real changes in policy and working practices: the intention is to work smarter and in a more focused way, not to load more work onto fewer individuals."
Staff would be encouraged to take early retirement and to apply for jobs in other departments, but would not be replaced. Mr Normington wrote: "We remain committed to doing all that we can to avoid compulsory redundancies."
