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Around 250,000 civil servants will start a two-day strike tomorrow over redundancy pay, that threatens to cause disruption in government regional offices, jobcentres, courts, call centres and Whitehall departments just weeks away from an election.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says that the "vast majority" of its members will support the walkout, which has been prompted by plans to cut redundancy payments.
It is if the first time House of Commons security staff in Parliament have gone on strike in more than 25 years, the PCS said.
Labour MPs have lended their support to strikers, warning there was "growing consternation" on the Labour backbenches over the dispute, especially as it had flared so close to the election.
The government wants to save £500m by capping pay-offs to those who are made redundant or take voluntary redundancy.
John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) said: "The government has severely under-estimated the strength of feeling among civil servants and the anger that's built up and led to this dispute.
"It is critical now that the government returns to the negotiation table to avoid further disruption. This dispute could be resolved easily with flexibility from the government."
David Drew (Stroud) said: "This is an outrageous intervention by Government relying on misinformation and spite rather than a fair policy on how we treat some of the lower paid members of the Civil Service who have given their life to public duty."
Labour, which relies on union funding and counts on union activists to hit the streets during election campaigns, is facing the prospect of defeat to Conservatives at a poll expected on May 6.
The PCS union, which is not affiliated to any political party, says it fears "the government wants to make it easier for whoever wins the general election to cut low-paid civil and public servants on the cheap."
Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell said other unions had accepted the proposals and that the deal was fair for staff and taxpayers.
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