Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union who work at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission will strike next week in protest at forced redundancies and budget cuts at the watchdog.
The union said a ballot of members found 82% in favour of industrial action and had been based on a 67% turnout at the arm’s length body, which has 190 staff and is overseen by the Government Equalities Office.
PCS staff will join members of Unite in the walk-out on Wednesday, which is protesting against anticipated budget cuts for the organisation of 25% and threatened compulsory redundancies.
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The union said a wave of further “non-strike industrial action” would commence from Thursday, and that more strike days were not being ruled out.
It said the cuts would mean fewer caseworkers supporting victims of discrimination, could threaten the agency’s United Nations “A” status as a national human rights institution and would seriously undermine EHRC’s ability to tackle the rise in hate crime after the Brexit vote.
The union added that 19 of the first 26 posts due to be cut at the commission were held by staff in the three lowest paid grades.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said that as things currently stood, the government body responsible for protecting vulnerable workers was itself disproportionately targeting older, ethnic minority and disabled staff.
“The commission is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants while getting rid of low paid staff who provide daily support to victims of discrimination,” he said.
“It is sickening that as division and hate are being fostered in our communities in the wake of the Brexit vote, this Tory government is cutting the staff whose job it is to combat this.”
PCS said around three quarters of the EHRC staff were members of the union.
A spokesperson for the EHRC said it was "disappointing" that union members had backed strike action.
"We have made every effort to work constructively with them on our proposals as we implement our new way of working," they added. "We have listened to them throughout the process and acted on a number of their suggestions.
“Like every public sector organisation we have had cuts to our budget and have to reduce headcount. We regret having to do this but have made sure the process has been fair and the same for all staff regardless of background.
“We have also reduced the amount we spend on temporary staff by around 90 per cent in recent years and this will come down even further when the new operating model is in place. We are confident that any action will not affect the important work we do in protecting and improving people’s rights.”