Northern Ireland ministers were warned tonight to brace themselves for a new wave of civil service strikes.
Public service union NIPSA said there would be increased action by key groups of staff if there was no resolution to their pay dispute.
Civil servants across Northern Ireland have been engaged in one-day strikes, longer focused strikes by key groups and work-to-rule action for 10 weeks over their demand for more pay.
There is no sign of an early resolution to the increasingly bitter dispute and talks between the two sides last Thursday are understood to have been fruitless.
Staff handling postal applications for car tax at the DOE Vehicle Licensing Centre at Coleraine, Co Derry today embarked on the second week of a stoppage.
After visiting the picket lines union general secretary Mr John Cory told ministers staff were as determined as the day strike action began in December to fight against the "blatant unfairness" of their enforced pay award for April 2003.
PA