Thousands of workers in British civil service sectors may take to the streets Tuesday for a two-day strike over job cuts.

Almost 18,000 posts have been cut and another 12,000 are due to be abolished by 2008 as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tries to save billions of pounds a year by job cuts in the civil service.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union wants a halt to the layoff plan at the DWP and decided to start the strike after talks with DWP broke down.

The union has up to 90,000 members at the DWP and the strike could affect job centers, welfare offices and pension centers as well as DWP offices.

The union leader said members of PCS union have to strike to defend their services and the DWP needs to halt the program and assess with the PCS the staffing levels needed, warning the strike would escalate unless their demands were met.

The DWP said it was disappointed at the PCS action, noting the program is to deliver the highest quality of service to customers.

Source: Xinhua