Ten of thousands of British civil servants are to start a 48-hour strike today over demands for more money.
The Public and Commercial Services Union predicts 90,000 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and Driving Standards Agency employees will stage the walk out.
"Civil servants are no longer prepared to accept poverty wages," said union general secretary Mr Mark Serwotka.
"Low pay is endemic in the civil service, particularly in the DWP where . . . the average salary among 11,000 administrative assistants is a meagre £10,588 (€15,627)," he said in a statement on the union's website.
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The union announced the strikes earlier this month after it said the government had offered "a series of below-inflation pay offers".