Union in national strike warning

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Britain's largest civil service union has warned it will call a national strike in the New Year over the prospect of compulsory job losses.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union will ballot its 280,000 members who work in over 200 government departments across the UK.

Union bosses are also angry about below inflation pay offers and have claimed workforce morale has plummeted.

Job centres and tax offices would be affected if the dispute goes ahead.

PCS General secretary Mark Serwotka said the decision to ballot for industrial action highlighted "the growing frustration of civil and public servants".

'Darkening mood'

He said: "Redundancies are completely unnecessary and appear to be politically driven and as jobs are cut we have seen services suffer."

Mr Serwotka claimed that privatisation and outsourcing were growing, claiming that there had been "little thought" for the impact on service delivery.

He added: "It is against this backdrop that the mood of the hard-working civil and public servants has darkened with morale plummeting and uncertainty growing."

The union boss called on the government to tackle low pay in the civil service and related bodies.

Job fears have risen following the announcement of the first compulsory redundancies in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Trade and Industry.