Workers voted by a margin of almost three to one in favour of strike action with 74.4% in favour of industrial action.

Steve Murphy, General Secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: “I hope that Kier’s management now understands the depth of anger among our workers on this issue.

“Kier and Ucatt now need to negotiate a resolution to this dispute.”

The turnout in the postal ballot was 44.4%

Kier Services staff are upset over its decision to change their pay date from the 15th to the 28th of each month.

The strike ballot involved members at: Gosport, Harlow, Islington, North Tyneside, Stoke and Southend.

The workers undertake maintenance work on local authority housing as well as other maintenance work across the local government sector.

Kier said: “Kier has consulted with the unions on proposals to change the pay date to the 28th of each month. The change is being made to align the monthly payroll process across the entire enlarged group and mirrors the procedure adopted by most comparable employers.

“Continued service delivery is a high priority for us and we are putting contingency plans in place in order to minimise any disruption to services should industrial action go ahead.

“We are committed to continuing to work with and consult the unions.”