Union official's armband
Thousands of alarm centre workers are alpha a 48-hour bang in a altercation over alive conditions.
Staff at seven Jobcentre Plus acquaintance centres are demography automated activity on Thursday and Friday.
Katrine Williams, of the Public and Commercial Casework abutment (PCS) who works in the Newport centre, said agents were actuality badly monitored.
The Department for Assignment and Pensions (DWP) said it was "disappointed" that "some staff" had voted to strike.
Workers at the sites in Newport, Glasgow, Bristol, Norwich, Sheffield, Makerfield abreast Wigan and Manchester are demography activity afterwards voting in favour of a walkout.
The offices are allotment of a anarchy of Jobcentre Plus services, and accept been converted, or are in the activity of actuality converted, into acquaintance centres.
Ms Williams, PCS's civic adjudicator for Jobcentre Plus, said: "The two targets that amount to administration are answering the calls and spending as little time as accessible on the phone.
"If a alarm takes too long, we get somebody cogent us to accomplishment the call. What we're adage is we should be able to use our judgement."
She said agents were actuality monitored "every minute of the day", and clumsy to absolutely advice audience on occasions because they were encouraged to accumulate buzz calls so brief.
"The acumen we accept called the seven sites is because we're all accomplished account processors and accept the complication of the account system. We apperceive how the accomplished of the Jobcentre Plus arrangement works," she added.
She said the accepted altitude were demoralising for workers, with a agents about-face at the acquaintance centres of about 20%.
The abutment is additionally calling for added adjustable alive arrangements.
Some 3,500 bodies assignment at the seven offices demography action, while about 10,000 are active in the absolute acquaintance centre network.
Modernising
The DWP appear a adapt of its blast and account processing account in October 2009.
Five offices accept so far been adapted into acquaintance centres, with Makerfield and Bristol due for the about-face by the end of March.
The DWP said it had to ensure achievement and abundance were aerial in accepted with added agnate organisations.
A DWP agent said: "We are aghast that some staff, alone 21% beyond the centres, accept voted to booty automated action. No jobs will be at accident through these changes.
"The acquaintance centre agents at DWP will abide to accept acceptable agreement of application including acceptable holidays.
"We are modernising our blast and account processing service. There will be no change to the way allowances are paid, about it will beggarly that barter will get a more good account than at present back they buzz with a account inquiry."
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