LONDON: The UK government’s hope of keeping the rate of inflation within reasonable bounds by not letting wage increases cross the red line was dashed on Monday when members of Unison, Britain’s largest public sector union, voted by 55 per cent in favour of a series of walkouts after rejecting a 2.45 per cent pay offer.

The union, which has 1.3 million members, is claiming a 6 per cent pay rise or an extra 50p an hour -- whichever is greater.

Almost 600,000 workers were balloted, including social workers, housing benefit workers, teaching assistants, dinner ladies, cooks, cleaners, architects and refuse collectors.

Both the Bank of England and the Treasury had agreed only last week that the best way to keep the rate of inflation going out of control was to keep the wages under control.

The Government and Bank of England policymakers have stressed the importance of wage discipline as worries grow about rising inflation, which in May hit 3.3 per cent -- its highest since Labour took power in 1997.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is determined to sustain the government’s unpopular policy of keeping public sector pay deals pegged to the 2 per cent inflation target, despite complaints that such offers essentially amount to pay cuts.

Unison said 250,000 council workers earned less than £6.50 an hour, and most of them were women.

The union’s negotiators will decide on Tuesday what action to recommend to the national strike committee later this week.